Ezra Klein, a journalist and New York Times columnist, joins Derek Thompson from The Atlantic and author Michael Pollan for a thought-provoking dialogue. They explore the shift from a scarcity to an abundance mindset in politics, particularly after Trump's election. The trio advocates for rediscovering speed in governance to improve efficiency and accountability. They also tackle the housing crisis, urging a balance between community needs and individual interests, while scrutinizing the influence of power on societal progress.
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insights INSIGHT
Abundance Counters Scarcity Politics
Dysfunctional governance fuels right-wing reactionary movements by failing to solve affordability crises.
Presenting a message of abundance contrasts sharply with scarcity solutions and is urgently needed.
insights INSIGHT
Rediscover Speed as Progressive Value
Government has chosen slowness, breaking democratic accountability.
Speed must be rediscovered as a progressive value to maintain effective governance.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Prioritize Speed and Reform Processes
Congress should set clear deadlines and impose financial consequences for unused funds.
Prioritize speed in administration and reform over-extended processes and captured legislation.
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As they look upon the United States of America in 02025, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson see a country wrought by a half-century of failed governance. They see states and cities theoretically committed to progressive futures instead bogged down in labyrinthine mires of process — a society stuck in low gear. Yet they also see opportunity to turn those failures on their heads, and to build a better society based around more responsive, efficient governance.
This is the vision that animates _Abundance_, Klein and Thompson’s new book and the focus of their Long Now Talk, hosted by Michael Pollan and co-sponsored with Manny’s and City Arts & Lectures. Despite Long Now’s focus on long-term thinking — of counterbalancing civilization’s pathologically short attention span — there was much to appreciate in Klein and Thompson’s call for American governance to “rediscover speed as a progressive value.” In their wide-ranging discussion, the two authors made the case for a vision of liberalism that builds, both for its own sake and as a bulwark against reactionary right-wing movements that have capitalized on its current shortcomings.
Klein and Thompson spent much of their conversation diagnosing the precise ways in which American governance has become bogged down. They identified a set of breakdowns in the social contract ranging from the overly-restrictive barriers to building housing and green infrastructure to the utterly inadequate governmental support given to technological development and scientific discovery. On the topic of scientific research, they spoke of the value of long-term science, noting that vital discoveries like penicillin, mRNA vaccines, and GLP-1s all benefited from the long-term investment that the private sector rarely provides.
At the close of the conversation, Pollan thanked Klein and Thompson for providing “not empty hope” but a vision “with a real path in front of it.” In their talk, Klein and Thompson didn’t just outline that path — they made clear the stakes of moving down it. We do not, as they argued, have the “luxury of time.” In order to build the abundant, progressive society that they envision, we must abandon “learned helplessness” and commit to building it with all necessary urgency and focus.
Long Now 
