Robert Putnam and Shaylyn Romney Garrett: How America Can Come Together Again

Twenty years ago, eminent Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam wrote the nonfiction book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. In it, he lamented the decline of in-person social discourse, which Americans used to enrich the fabric of our lives. He further went on to say that this decline undermined the civic engagement required in a strong democracy.

Professor Putnam's new book, The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again, coauthored by social entrepreneur Shaylyn Romney Garrett, comes at a time of deep and accelerating inequality, unprecedented political polarization, vitriolic public discourse and a fraying social fabric. In a sweeping overview of more than a century of history, drawing on a combination of statistical analysis and storytelling, Putnam and Garrett analyze a remarkable confluence of trends that brought us from an “I” society to a “we” society and then back again. They draw inspiring lessons for our time from an earlier era, when a dedicated group of reformers righted the ship, putting us on a path to becoming a society once again based on community.

Come for an important conversation that provides optimism in these challenging times.

Speakers:
Robert Putnam
Malkin Research Professor of Public Policy, Harvard University; Co-Author, The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again; Twitter @RobertDPutnam

Shaylyn Romney Garrett
Social Entrepreneur; Co-Author, The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again; Twitter @shaylynromney

In Conversation with David Kennedy
Donald J. McLachlan Professor Emeritus of History, Stanford University

[jamessmith-pbly]

Professor Putnam, got some questions. You are comparing assimilation of Europeans to the assimilation of everyone else, why ? Europeans no longer come here like they did in the past.

There is no break planned for immigration of any kind let alone mutli decade assimilation.
Let's take a look why 1965 immigration act passed. The USSR was hitting us with propaganda on how America wasn't inclusive. Here is what Ted Kennedy and LBJ said
""The bill will not flood our cities with immigrants, ” lead supporter Sen. Edward “Ted” Kennedy (D-Mass.) told the Senate during debate. “It will not upset the ethnic mix of our society. It will not relax the standards of admission. It will not cause American workers to lose their jobs.”

That sentiment was echoed by Johnson, who, upon signing the act on October 3, 1965, said the bill would not be revolutionary: “It does not affect the lives of millions … It will not reshape the structure of our daily lives or add importantly to either our wealth or our power.”
So were they lying, or ignorant ? They are both 100% incorrect.

America is now facing automation beyond anything it has faced before. Kai-Fu Lee, a Chinese venture capitalist and artificial intelligence expert said on 60 Minutes "Many jobs that seem a little bit complex, chef, waiter, a lot of things, will become automated ... stores ... restaurants, and altogether in 15 years, that's going to displace about 40 percent of the jobs in the world, "

America is also facing the greatest threat as far as strategy it has ever faced, which is China. China isn't the USSR. They are playing a much different game. There are over 360K Chinese students alone. Many are spies, see Liu Ruopeng. China makes nearly 100% of America's antibiotics. China supports shipping fentanyl into our nation. They are playing a much different game. One most American's don't even realize is being played at all.


The debt we be over 30 Trillion as soon as the new stimulus is passed. Interest rates are at a low, there is no where to go during a collapse.
You leave out there was no welfare state at least not the way we know it now back during the massive waves of the past. Just by stepping foot on American soil entitles you to massive amounts of services paid for by the America taxpayer.

You leave out a lot to make the upswing work.

[StarJester]

ok this actually made me feel a little better 🥺