Episode 2235: John Driscoll on why Kamala Harris lost
I did this interview with John Driscoll, co-author of Pay the People! Why Fair Pay is Good for Business and Great for America, earlier this week, assuming that Harris would lose the election. And let’s be clear: she did lose an election that should have been eminently winnable. Driscoll spelt it out clearly in a powerful The Hill article last week about how raising the minimum wage is the key to the White House for Harris. The problem with Harris, and most of the Democratic party, is their failure to offer a coherent and politically sellable economic alternative to Trumpism. John Driscoll and his group of successful business leaders at Patriotic Millionaires offer that alternative. It’s not socialism, but it is an undisguised and unapologetic attempt to recognize the economic predicament of the American working class and to resurrect the American Dream by leveling the playing field. That’s the way to defeat Trumpism. Not by smiling inanely and saying nothing.
John Driscoll chairs the Waystar Corporation and is a senior advisor at Walgreens Boots Alliance. Previously, he was CEO at CareCentrix, president of Castlight, group president at Medco, and SVP at Oxford Health Plans. John also served as a captain in the U.S. Army Reserve and is a longtime board member of the Alliance for Hunger and The Patriotic Millionaires. The co-author, with Morris Pearl, of Pay the People! (The New Press), he lives in Stamford, Connecticut.
Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.
Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe
Toby Walsh: If Our Superpower Is Human Empathy, Then Why the Hell Are We Trying to Teach Computers To Be Empathetic?
Richard Hasen: Can American Democracy Be Fixed By Making Political Speech More Expensive?
Ken Auletta: What Does the Harvey Weinstein Story Tell Us About the Culture of Silence in Hollywood and America?
Charles Sabel: To Fix the Climate We Need to Rewire the Economy, Our Democracy, and Our Brains
Michael Fertik: On Washington Irving, John Muir, Philip Dick, Jonathan Haidt and what America Has Uniquely Got Going For It
Aviva Rahmani: Why Telling Effective Stories About the Environment Requires Not Just Words But Also Visual Images and Even Music
Daniel S. Moak: Why America's Current War on Schools Is the Result of Fifty Years of Failed Federal Educational "Reforms"
Ed Yong: Why Perceiving Animal Senses Makes Us Empathetic Not Only to Other Creatures But Also to Each Other
Daniel Silva on How to Write a Bestselling Literary Spy Novel Every Year
Elisabeth Leake on How the Soviet and American Invasions of Afghanistan Are Comparable
Daniel Drezner on the End of Donald Trump, Green Tech, Apocalyptic Zombies: Why Americans Should Be Cheerful About the Future
Marianne Lewis: How Life's Toughest Problems Are Most Effectively Confronted By "Both/And Thinking"
Jason Kander: A Disturbing Autobiography From One of America's Most Candid Ex-Politicians and Soldiers