What’s the Matter with Kansas?, 2004
Listen Liberal, 2016
By: Thomas Frank

Social critic Thomas Frank has been taking on status quo politics for quite some time.  He doesn’t mince words and his disdain doesn’t hue along party lines.  Prior to Trump, Frank pointed out a reliance on the ‘professional class’ in both major parties that has led to the disenfranchisement of many from our political process.

In What’s the Matter with Kansas? Frank chronicles the rise of a political conservatism that espouses economic policies that do not benefit the majority of people by waging war over a handful of hot-button cultural issues.

In Listen Liberal, Frank challenges liberals; why has inequality gotten worse under a Democratic president whom is possibly the most liberal of all presidents? Why have the gains of the recovery been monopolized by the top 10 percent?

My challenge, for either conservatives or liberals, is to read both books.  If you’re a liberal, read What’s the Matter with Kansas? first, but don’t get too smug.  Follow through and read Listen Liberal, you might not like what he’s saying, but you should hear it.  Conservatives, do the same.  I bet you’ll be nodding in agreement while reading Listen Liberal.  But will you be able to hear the valid criticisms of conservatism in What’s the Matter with Kansas?

 

 

Dark Money, 2016
By Jane Mayer

The short take is that Dark Money has cemented my resolve to be more involved.  Journalist Jane Mayer tracks down the source of funding for many libertarian and conservative think tanks and SuperPACs and the policies and campaigns they advocate for to a handful of billionaires and several hundred rich families.