What Drained-Pool Politics Costs America
b'\\u201cThe American landscape was once graced with resplendent public swimming pools, some big enough to hold thousands of swimmers at a time,\\u201d writes Heather McGhee in her new book, \\u201cThe Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together.\\u201d These pools were the pride of their communities, monuments to what public investment could do. But they were, in many places, whites-only. Then came the desegregation orders. The pools would need to be open to everyone. But these communities found a loophole. They could close them for everyone. Drain them. Fill them with concrete. Shutter their parks departments entirely. And so they did.\\n\\nIt\\u2019s a shocking tale. But it\\u2019s too easily dismissed as yet one more story of America\\u2019s racist past. McGhee shows otherwise. Drained-pool politics are still with us today and shaping issues of far more consequence than pool access. Drained-pool politics \\u2014 if \\u201cthey\\u201d can also have it, then no one can \\u2014 helps explain why America still doesn\\u2019t have a truly universal health care system, a child care system, a decent social safety net. McGhee, the former president of the think tank Demos, offers a devastating tour of American public policy, and she shows how drained-pool politics have led to less for everyone, not just their intended targets.\\n\\nI asked McGhee to join me for a discussion about drained-pool politics, the zero-sum stories at the heart of American policymaking, how people define and understand their political interests, and the path forward. This is, in my view, a hopeful book, and a hopeful conversation. There are so many issues where the trade-offs are real, and binding. But in this space, there are vast \\u201csolidarity dividends\\u201d just waiting for us, if we are willing to stand with, rather than against, each other.\\n\\nRecommendations: \\n\\n"Parable of the Sower" by Octavia E. Butler\\n\\n"The Color of Law" by Richard Rothstein\\n\\n\\u201cGood Times\\u201d (TV series)\\n\\n"The Word Collector" by Peter H. Reynolds\\n\\nYou can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of "The Ezra Klein Show" at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein.\\n\\nThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.\\n\\n\\u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\\u201d is produced by Rog\\xe9 Karma and Jeff Geld; fact-checking by Michelle Harris; original music by Isaac Jones; mixing by Jeff Geld.'