Derek Thompson: Democrats Must Change
The Atlantic's Derek Thompson urges Democrats to embrace more libertarian, pro-growth policies in his new book.
Derek Thompson, a senior writer at The Atlantic and co-author (with Ezra Klein) of Abundance: The New Politics of Growth, joins this episode of Just Asking Questions to make the case that if Democrats want to win in the future, they must first learn to build. In this conversation, Thompson challenges Democrats to reimagine themselves as the party of pragmatic progress, rather than redistribution.
We wanted to bring Thompson on the show now because the tension inside the Democratic Party is reaching a breaking point. In the wake of disappointing results and growing disillusionment with blue-state governance, a growing chorus—including Thompson—is calling for a course correction. But can Democrats overcome their own internal roadblocks—union entrenchment, environmental regulation gridlock, and NIMBYism—to actually deliver on that promise?
This interview was recorded on April 8, 2025.
Sources Referenced:
- Abundance by Derek Thompson and Ezra Klein
- Then-Gov. Jerry Brown in 2012 pitching California's Rail Project
- Cities aren't back - by Jed Kolko - Slow Boring
- Chart: Which US states generate the most solar and wind energy?
- Solar panel prices have fallen by around 20% every time global capacity doubled - Our World in Data
- Energy Mix - Our World in Data
Chapters
- 00:00 Coming up…
- 00:17 Introduction and framing the abundance agenda
- 05:00 Free trade, Trump, and economic polarization
- 10:00 Elevator pitch for the book Abundance
- 15:00 California's failure to deliver liberal abundance
- 20:00 The housing crisis and how liberals should fix it
- 25:00 Suburbanization, urban decline, and market logic
- 30:00 California High-Speed Rail: what went wrong?
- 35:00 Is high-speed rail a true public good?
- 40:00 Clean energy progress in Texas vs California
- 45:00 Solar, wind, and battery breakthroughs
- 50:00 Carbon externalities and the path to clean energy
- 55:00 Can abundance work within the Democratic Party?
- 01:00:00 Elon Musk, Doge, and ideological contradictions
- 01:05:00 Should Operation Warp Speed should be a model for other stuff?
- Producer: John Osterhoudt
