Sally Kohn
Communications strategist, writer, television commentator and public-speaking coach. A TED speaker and curator, she focuses on political division, democracy and human connection; she is also the author of The Opposite of Hate.
Economic Inequality Is Driving Democratic Backsliding
Sally Kohn argues that democracy is endangered not only by attacks on voting rights but by an economic order that leaves too many people without security, opportunity or power. In her proposed “Democracy 3.0,” political inclusion must be matched by broader economic participation through measures such as higher wages, stronger unions, fairer wealth taxation and democratic business ownership. When democracy fails to improve material life, Kohn says, it creates the conditions in which authoritarianism can take hold.
Democracy Must Deliver Material Gains to Resist Authoritarian Appeal
Sally Kohn and Jeff Maurer do not make the case for a formal wealth limit on politicians in this TED “Idea Knock Down” exchange. Instead, Kohn argues that democracy is losing ground because it is failing to deliver material gains for ordinary people, while Maurer says the deeper problem is a political class and party system too detached from the public it claims to represent. Both return to the same underlying concern: money’s grip on politics is weakening democracy’s claim to work for everyone.