Notes on Abundance: How Democrats Broke American Cities

In March 2025, journalists Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson published a book titled Abundance. While Abundance is largely a critique of the failures of liberal governance throughout the past half-century, the book also provides a vision of liberalism that the authors say would make America fairer and more prosperous, where a literal abundance of resources, services, scientific progress, and housing allows everyone to thrive. This video discusses the ideas set out in the book and also touches on critiques, tradeoffs, and problems with their vision. Many American liberal cities and states have simply become unaffordable for the working class. At the end of the day, liberals must promote policies that help the poor, even if those policies are imperfect. If liberals and leftists can’t present compelling alternatives to Trumpism and the populism of the MAGA right, America is destined to a future of dysfunction, division, and decline.

Directed and Edited by Harrison T. Brown
Produced by Harrison T. Brown, Luke Simboli,
Written By Harrison T. Brown, Dylan Springer, Luke Simboli
Cinematography (Subject): Luke Simboli
Cinematography (Urban Landscape): Harrison T. Brown

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