Whew!
My book came out in November and I've been talking ever since. So far I count 52 interviews and book talks - some print, some radio, some podcast and some internet things that I don't know how to categorize. Most are virtual but a few IRL (as the kids say.) I'm a little tired of hearing the sound of my voice.
It's slowing down but I'm looking forward in the next few months to visiting a few cities for talks, conference panels and, hopefully, some live music along the way. (Have tickets in Philly while I'm at the Network for Public Education conference.)
So far, I've learned a lot. For example:
How to answer the same questions repeatedly but in slightly different ways to keep myself interested.
How to tell stories while connecting them to larger ideas in a coherent way.
And I've gotten clearer about the importance of taking on some of the central ideas and arguments used to thwart progressive policy and action that we confront in everything we do. Such as:
Private sector is more efficient than government
Market competition delivers better goods and services
The profit motive drives innovation
Government wastes taxpayer money
The problem is that these things are neither true nor false. They are true and false. That there is a grain of truth in them (along with a decades-long drumbeat) has helped them become conventional wisdom
That's why we can't let them go unchallenged. This is how I've been doing it:
There are efficient businesses and efficient governments. But there are also inefficient businesses and governments. When someone tells me that privatization will cut costs because private companies are more efficient, I ask a very simple question: "Tell me, what exactly are you going to spend less money on? (especially since you're not spending all those profits and executive compensation packages on providing services.")
Market competition can bring down prices and cause companies to improve their services. Sure, but it can also create incentives to cut corners, exclude people and lead to monopolies.
I'm sure the profit motive (the desire to make gobs of money) has caused people to develop new things that we all use. But it wasn’t the profit motive that developed the polio vaccine, or that sends teachers to work every day. And don’t forget - the profit motive created the Opiod crisis, caused tobacco companies to deny that cigarettes are addictive and fueled oil company-funded climate denialism.
Sure governments waste money - every organization does, public and private. But tax money is tight and governments across the country are doing a lot more with less. And one person's waste is another person's good idea. I looked up lists of government waste on conservative websites and was (not) surprised to find that they include programs that conservatives simply don't like. Like Davis-Bacon wage standards for federally funded construction projects; and tattoo removal for formerly incarcerated people. Their lists, of course, include contractor fraud as would mine. But, ironically, solutions to contractor fraud involve more government spending, not less. Oops. Government agencies need more auditors and monitors to make sure those efficient, profit-motivated companies don't rip us off.
That’s all for now. Stay tuned. FYI - I have a couple of virtual talks in the next few days. Feel free to register and share.
Ash Center at Harvard with historian Lizabeth Cohen- March 7 (4pm ET )
The Indivisible Georgia Coalition and Fund Georgia’s Future, March 7 (7pm ET)
And please send ideas and suggestions about ways I can use the book to help support organizations and leaders.
Thanks and stay sane (no easy task these days,)
Donald