Matt Miller of Pacific Palisades is a “talking head†on KCRW’s “Left, Right & Center.†He used to work in the Clinton White House and now writes books about public policy, among other things. Miller just came out with “The Tyranny of Dead Ideas.†Westside Today just caught up with him.
Q: Matt, what do you mean when you talk about “Dead Ideas†? Can you give us some examples?
A: Dead Ideas are the things we think we know, but don’t — those deeply ingrained conventional wisdoms about how things work that blind us to radical changes in circumstances that render our ideas obsolete and dangerous. It’s human nature, really – the perils of orthodoxy at moments of sudden or pervasive change have been with us forever. The blind spots bred by complacency or arrogance or certitude or habit fill the obituaries of civilizations that didn’t make it, businesses that didn’t make it, even marriages that didn’t make it. And we can be trapped in Dead Ideas in our business lives, in our personal lives, and in our public life.
I’m focused in the book on six Dead Ideas in our public life that are stopping us from adapting successfully to the threats now posed by globalization and rapid technological change. An example is the Dead Idea that “Your company should take care of you†– by which i mean the whole employer-based system of health care (and to some extent pension) benefits that is unique in the US. No other rich country has its welfare state basically run by private corporations. It may have made sense 50 years ago, but today it hurts corporate competitiveness even as it leaves millions of people insecure.
Another idea is that taxes hurt the economy and they’re always too high. Why do I say that’s a dead idea? Because once we get through this recession, in the next decade taxes will go up no matter who is in power. They have to as we double the number of people on social security and medicare as the baby boomers retire. Yet the economy will be fine. We won’t become France or Sweden. But these truths are undiscussabale for political reasons today.
Q: Any more?
A: In the book I offer a mini-biography of each dead idea – where it came from, why it once made sense, and why radical changes in circumstances now make it harmful or even dangerous. I hope folks will have a look. The story of these ideas — their history, psychology and economics – offer insights on how we got where we are, and how we can get past these dead ideas.
Q: If so many of these ideas don’t work, why do policy makers and other interest groups cling to them? Can’t they see that their behavior is ultimately self-defeating?
A: In every era people grow comfortable with settled ideas about the way the world works. It takes an extraordinary shock to expose the conventional wisdom as obsolete, and to open people’s minds to a new vision of what is possible and what is necessary. Yet eventually a point is reached when what was once deemed unthinkable comes to seem inevitable. The climate of opinion is transformed by events.
Q: Everyone is now talking about the need for change, Obama has made “change†a safe idea. Does this mean policy makers will finally abandon “dead ideas†in favor of something else? How hopeful are you? What are some GOOD ideas we need to implement?
A: I’m very hopeful – so long as each of us commits to moving past old ways of thinking that no longer make sense – and to making the world safe for our leaders to do the same. I lay out a series of what I call ‘destined ideas†that we’ll move to once we bury the dead ideas in our way. One will involve assuring everyone access to good group health coverage outside the employer setting. We should also raise taxes on dirty energy – and cut them on payrolls.
Q: If we don’t get away from dead ideas, how bad do you think things will get for our country? If we can make the changes you prescribe, what will be America’s place in the world, in say 20 years?
A: We face some unprecedented challenges but we can absolutely prosper if we’re willing to rethink the way we do things. The battle to save the economy, and our future, really starts inside our heads.
Q: Some commentators – like Joe Klein at Time Magazine – have said that members of the new administration should read your book. Have you sent them copies? Any feedback?
A: A number of my talented colleagues from the Center for American Progress, as well as other friends from my Clinton White House days, have gone into key posts. They’ve got the book but I’m guessing they may be a little behind in their reading just now…:) But I’m confident these ideas will get a hearing as the Obama era unfolds.
