“The story of America in the 21st century is the story of chosen scarcities.”

So begins “Abundance,” the new book by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson that has politicos abuzz.

In it, they argue that progressives have created a culture of scarcity the last few decades, especially when it comes to solving America’s thorniest problem, like homelessness, housing affordability and green energy. The solution, they say, is to face up to the failures of liberal policies, no matter how well intended, and renew a politics of plenty.

“If you look back in American history, America used to built things — proudly,” Thompson tells Kerri Miller on this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas. “And then at some point over the last 50 years, liberalism — which was once defined as the politics of building — became defined as the politics of blocking. [In the book], we’re trying to execute a bit of a paradigm shift here: We want to marry the politics of building with modern progressivism.”

Guest:

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• Derek Thompson is a staff writer at The Atlantic. He is the co-author of the new book, “Abundance,” along with the New York Times’ Ezra Klein.

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