Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer Why Democracy Needs a New Operating System (with K. Sabeel Rahman)
8 snips
May 6, 2025 K. Sabeel Rahman, a legal scholar and former advisor in the Biden administration, joins to discuss the urgent need for a new approach to democracy. They dive into the repercussions of trickle-down economics and the failures of past governance. Rahman emphasizes that simply restoring old systems won't suffice; instead, we need innovative reforms to ensure government serves the people effectively. They explore how corporate interests have threatened democracy and advocate for structural changes that prioritize community needs and equity.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Democracy Requires New Government Model
- Effective democracy requires government that restrains both state and private authoritarian power.
- We need a government that is faster, fairer, and capable of delivering real economic change.
Biden Era's Regulatory Shift
- The Biden administration worked to incorporate equity and competition in regulation.
- They confronted decades of neoliberal limits that prioritized corporate profits over broader social goals.
Structural Reform Needed for Democracy
- Constitutional structures like the Senate and Supreme Court override majority power and constrain democracy.
- We need a reconstruction around proportional representation and updated administrative agencies.