The Wrong People at the Top
Power. What is it? Political theorist Robert Dahl gave one example. He said, “A has power over B to the extent that he can get B to do something that he would not otherwise do.” Why is it that often that those who are on top are the wrong people? The high rollers and the nabobs lust for power behind a smokescreen of homilies about doing good. Today, more and more power is concentrated in the hands of the few, thus weakening democracy. Who wields it? How is it allocated? What are effective ways to ensure power is not abused and serves the societal greater good? How can we organize and protect ourselves from those seeking personal power and profit? How can we get the right people on top?
Speaker
Brian Klaas
Brian Klaas is a professor of global politics at University College London and a contributing writer for The Atlantic. He is the author of Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us and Fluke: Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters.
Teresa –
Essential listening, everyone must hear this! I’m going to call into the Thom Hartmann show at some point and recommend Brain Klass to Thom and his audience. His ideas are a game changer for me and also give me hope.
Jeffrey Simpson –
What an encouraging lecture to hear at this point in time. Thank you for bringing a whole load of truth that matters to your listeners today.
Pilar Murray –
Excellent.
Paul in Oregon –
I really enjoyed your weekly show this morning on KBOO from Brian Klaas.
Matt McGranaghan –
I’d second the “must hear”. I think Klaas’s (non-partisan and meta) take will resonate with traditional conservatives (humans are flawed
and clearly not equal in ability and propensity) and with progressives (so we build rational governance that benefits all). I heard it last
night on KZYX and this morning sent links to the program at AR to a bunch of friends. Thanks for putting this one out here.
Nedda –
This is a “must hear” for everyone interested in understanding what’s wrong not only with the US political system, but planet-wide politics, and what can be done to change it.”
Kim McMann –
For the first time in a very long time I actually have hope. We CAN fix the broken systems and this podcast explains thoroughly how to do so.
Jeff Baum –
So pertinent and smart, and I have so many questions!