Thread by @shadihamid

Our latest @WCrowdsLive episode was epic. We talked to @SWGoldman about whether America is actually great

The last part got raucous because we thought it would be paywalled. But it was so awesome we decided to make it available to everyone

Enjoy 🍿
wisdomofcrowds.live/is-america-act…

If you don't know @SWGoldman, it's time to correct the error

He's one of the most brilliant center-right thinkers around—and perhaps the preeminent scholar of American nationalism. His book AFTER NATIONALISM is one of my favorite books of 2021

Buy it: amazon.com/Nationalism-Ra…

Do check out the last 20 minutes of our @WCrowdsLive conversation with @swgoldman. I've been struggling with these issues, but I think I got some clarity

The episode is also available on all major podcast platforms 👇🏽

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/is-…

Is America a "shitty" country? This is the question we debate on the episode. Yes, I'm willing to concede that it is.

Hypothesis: Shittier countries are more alive and vibrant. Their present may be depressing but this may be the price to pay for a more promising future

I can't remember who said it on the episode—I don't want to put words in @SWGoldman's mouth—but someone said that the U.S. is basically a "very rich third-world country"

wisdomofcrowds.live/is-america-act…

On a (somewhat) more serious note, our point of departure was @SWGoldman's recent piece in @TheWeek, which is one of the best I've read in months. He argues that we're more like Latin America than Europe... and that's not necessarily bad

theweek.com/politics/10051…

By the episode's end, I felt much better about America's future than I have in a long time. First of all, we have something not a single European country has—unrestricted birthright citizenship. This is so central to the American idea that that by itself is good enough for me

If birthright citizenship is so central to the American idea, it's worth asking who else has it. If not Europe, then where? Central and South America. And in many other ways, we share more in common with Latin America: high crime, guns, legacies of slavery, chaotic pluralism