RALEIGH -- Thomas Frank, a liberal critic of American politics and the author of the best-selling "What's the Matter with Kansas?" will speak at 7:30 tonight at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh.
Frank is promoting his new book, "Pity the Billionaire." Raleigh is the fourth stop in his book tour after New York, Boston, and Washington.
The book is a critical look at how the political right made a comeback after the election of Democratic President Barack Obama, in part by blaming the economic hard times on government while portraying business as the victim.
The News and Observer caught up with Frank on Monday for a phone interview.
Q: How does the political reaction to the Great Depression differ from the political reaction to the Great Recession?
"This time around, just like back then, you have social protest movements, people organizing and taking to the streets, and even marching on Washington. ... But the politics of it are completely upside down. For example, in the Depression, there was this very pronounced sense of community. ... Neighbors would help neighbors avoid foreclosures. ... This time around, I went to some tea party rallies. I'll never forget the sign at the first one I went to: 'You're mortgage is not my problem.' "
Q: You write that "we have lived through decades of deregulation, deunionization, privatization and free trade agreements." Why is there a demand for more of the same?
"I think because people don't perceive it as being more of the same. ... There is this kind of vision of utopian capitalism that has become really compelling to people just in the last few years. According this vision, we could reach this kind of authentic American state if we allowed markets to become completely free and get government out of the way altogether."
Q: What would this utopian capitalism look like if it was brought to realization?
"It would look like the 19th century. It would be boom and bust and starvation, and disaster and wars. ...insisting on clean air and clean water and having a fire department that is public rather than private - all the sort of advances of the 20th century - abolishing child labor, having food stamps, having unemployment insurance, these things may annoy business moguls. It probably irritates them no end that they can't push wages down beyond a certain point. But it has made democracy meaningful."
