John McWhorter & Marc Dunkelman – Why Nothing Works

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0:00 Why Marc thinks nothing works

6:45 Who decides the winners and losers in public trade-offs?

12:50 Penn Station and public interest logjams

20:29 Marc: We have Trump because people feel that government doesn’t work

28:17 Two progressive conceptions of power

33:03 Finding the balance between centralized and dispersed power

39:05 Ok, nothing works. So how do we get things working?

51:28 Marc: We need a return to Hamiltonian governing

55:03 The new class of moderate Democrats trying to get things done

Recorded September 6, 2025

Links and Readings

Marc’s new book, Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress—and How to Bring It Back

Marc’s book, The Vanishing Neighbor: The Transformation of American Community

Robert Putnam’s book, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community

Robert Caro’s book, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York

Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson’s book, Abundance

Jennifer Pahlka’s book, Recoding America: Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better

Yoni Applebaum’s book, Stuck: How the Privileged and Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity

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