Should There Be a Wealth Limit for Politicians? | Idea Knock Down | TED

Sally Kohn: Oh, no, no, no, no. Jeff Maurer: Wow. I didn't think that was going to work. SK: I really liked that sound you just made. I hate this question. JM: I love that, that is awesome. SK: I believe it. Would you dance with me for a second? [The Idea Knockdown] SK: Hi, my name is Sally Kohn. I am a media trainer and a communications strategist. I am a democracy superfan, and I think democracy can work better for our lives and our wallets. JM: Hi, my name is Jeff Maurer, and I work in defense tech and getting the most disruptive technologies to advance into our warfighters. Director: Today we're playing Idea Knockdown. Red blocks are rapid-fire questions, and black blocks have questions that go a little deeper. Whoever knocks down the tower will have to do a mystery challenge. SK: Huh! JM: Now on top.

Yay! SK: Alright, red card, here we go. It says, is there a version of democracy that actually works for everyday people? Why, yes. I think there is a version of democracy that works for everyday people, but it requires getting money out of politics and changing our expectations of what democracy is meant to do to actually prioritize working people. JM: Nice. SK: Look at me, I'm stepping back, come on. JM: Oh, that feels like a winner. There we go. SK: Winner, winner, chicken dinner. JM: Right there. OK, red card. Should there be a wealth limit for those running for office? SK: Oh, interesting. JM: I think we could definitely have a couple beers and talk about this for a very long time. Who's got the beers? SK: You don't think there should be limits for anything, correct? That's the libertarian in you. JM: Yeah, that's true. I don't necessarily think that wealth on its own is inherently bad, and I don't necessarily like that our leadership skews toward the ultra-wealthy. And so there is a disconnect between the people representing us and the people being represented.

And I don't think our founders would have liked that either, even though they had -- SK: That's hard to say because they were all landed white dudes. But our values, our values and our history never quite matched up. JM: What it says and what we do are two totally different things. And that's the part that we should fix. So it's not that I believe in wealth limits, it's that I believe we should, again, take money out of politics. And I think that will get us more candidates and more representatives who are truly representative of the people. And guess what? We're not all millionaires and nor should be our Congress. Oh, wow, that's a good one. SK: Well, it was loose, so I went with it. And that's looking a little shaky. OK. Do you think the next generation will have more opportunities than yours? We are on a knife's edge as a nation, at least in the United States. I think this is true around the world too, when you think about, for instance, cuts to USAID and aid and the sort of disintegration of the global world order, like, we can make a decision both as the United States and as a global community, to pay forward the wealth, the opportunity, the good stuff, the roads, the schools.

Or to allow extreme wealth and extreme inequality to pile up. Of course, then we haven't even gotten into the impacts of climate and all of that. So I like, truly, truly, truly pray we, as a world, come to our senses, but it does keep me up at night. Yeah, I think they're all stuck. Oh, oh. JM: Oh, yeah, here we go. SK: Don't get too cocky before you put it down. JM: That's true. What's one thing worth rebuilding right now? I am going to go with trust. Trust and integrity. Those two things kind of go hand in hand. Without those, we just can't do anything else. There's no functioning and there's no working together, which means we can't do anything greater than ourselves. SK: All right, I like that answer. I'm making a bold choice. JM: That is -- Wow, look at you. SK: I'm really trying to set up my opponent here. I'm, like, afraid to touch the cards. JM: I can pass one to you. SK: No, we're good.

Why is authoritarianism winning globally? Well, it's not friggin' winning. It just happens to be having a moment. JM: A little fascism flare-up. SK: Authoritarianism is flaring up around the globe. Not because of anything authoritarianism is doing right, but because of what democracy is getting wrong, and in particular, that democracy is not delivering like, real, tangible improvements in people's lives, in particular financial improvements. And there is a massive correlation between countries that have extreme income inequality and see erosions of democracy, which is understandable because, like, why would you vote for a system that isn't working for you? JM: Oh, I think I’ve got a red in my hair. Oh, maybe I don't. We're going to go slow. This might take a few minutes. SK: Waiting with bated breath. I don't know what bated breath is. JM: We should Google that. We did it. Now I just need to pick a card. SK: It's like this weird feeling of like, I'm both happy for you, and sad for myself.

Now I have to -- Alright, go ahead. JM: Ooh, this one's going to be fun. What's an overused word in politics? This one is a pet peeve for me, particularly: bipartisan. We have so many different factions, so many different Americans, so many different perspectives and points of view, there is no way that only two parties can represent them. And I think Americans, right at this moment, are seeing a lot of that frustration. And so when we talk about partisan, left, right, bipartisan, particularly, that is just a distraction for the fact that we are not getting our voices heard. SK: I just, you know, here's the problem, Jeff, is that I’m a slightly competitive person and don’t like losing. Yeah. JM: Oh, oh, wait a minute, wait a minute. SK: Oh. JM: That's impressive. SK: Thank goodness. Trying to make me do some embarrassing stuff in the streets of Philadelphia, it's 99 friggin' degrees out there.

What's the version of your city or country you're still holding out hope for? I have a lot of hope. I think hope is like, one of the most important civic tools. Hope and love, right? I think if you love your country and you love all -- all of the people in it, and you have hope that things can be better, I think nothing is impossible. JM: Can I just say I love that? That is awesome. SK: I believe it. I mean, I, will say the flip side, and I feel this intensely now, is how much of our society is held together by norms: good behavior, decency, kindness, respect, and how consequential it can be when those are not upheld. But I think most people, and I live in a really politically diverse community, everybody comes to the four-way stop and most everybody is like, "Oh no, you go first." And I just think that's the best of us.

And it gives me hope for all the rest. JM: So hard on this one. OK, here we go. SK: We didn't think we would be this good. Yeah, that was fantastic. JM: Let's pick a red card. Is privacy still possible? Ooh, that's a good one. Sadly, I think the answer is no. And I think that is what's creating so much of the angst and societal unrest in many ways. The more that we're tracked and monitored, the more uncomfortable we get. And technology, unfortunately, empowers that. And we can look at what some of the big authoritarian technocracies are doing, and it's scary. SK: The surveillance state is worrying. However, I'm going to need some privacy soon when I cry. So -- JM: Oh, you did find one. SK: Thank you, thank you.

JM: And you fixed the OCD. SK: I did. I had to. JM: I'm very proud of that. SK: It's driving me crazy. Is there a version of success that doesn't require someone else to lose? We all win when we all win, right? We can't have a country, any country, we can't have a world -- Think about all of our great technological advances, all of our inventions, or think about climate change, right? Like, is there a version of success that doesn't require someone else to lose? It's almost like you want to ask the inverse question, right? We cannot survive as a species anywhere if we don't fix climate change. We cannot. So no one can succeed in that formula. It's like, the wrong way to think of the interwoven web of humanity, which was always interwoven. But it's like super -- We're all connected now. Oh, oh, no, no, no. No, no, no. JM: OK, here we go, alright.

Keep our OCD record strong here. OK. SK: Don't touch the table again. JM: That's true. What would you tell a 15-year-old about how the world actually works? Two sentences: Not the way you hope it does. SK: But it could be better. JM: But it could be better. And, you have a responsibility in making it better. Boom. SK: Alright. JM: I don't envy you right now. SK: OK, wait, wait, whoa, whoa! JM: Careful. SK: Pushing it back, pushing -- JM: Good job. SK: That really hurt my ego. Mystery challenge. JM: What have we got? SK: I hope I get to keep my clothes on. Recruit people to join your "political party." Oh, no, it's not like a political, political party. It's like a, get people to dance in my "political party" on the street. JM: So we're going to go dancing, because that was way too much fun, and you were such a partner.

SK: You're going to help me? JM: I'm voluntarily going to help you. SK: You're going to embarrass yourself in public with me? JM: I am going to hold the card for you. Let's do this. SK: Let's go. Well, now it's feeling embarrassing. Do you want to come over and dance with me in my political party? Come on over. Person 1: What is this? SK: I'm Sally, nice to meet you. So we're giving TED talks. Person 1: It's my dream to be on a TED talk. SK: Well, this is the closest you might get for right now. Which is part of our TED dance party. Are you ready? Let's go. Ooh. Here we go. There we go. JM: I don't know what it means -- SK: Hey, do you want to dance with me? Person 2: No! JM: Why not? SK: These people look fun. Would you dance with me on video? Person 3: I can't dance. SK: Come on, I can't dance either. Look how much fun we can have in Philadelphia. More people, join the party. What do you mean you can't dance?

Oh, she is -- OK. Alright, we're really dancing now. But, I mean, that was more than I was bargaining for. Give us a ringer. A ringer, oh, come on. JM: He's beaten all of us. SK: Thank you, you're my last challenge. Thank you so much.