Munk Debate: David Frum vs Steve Bannon

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I normally don't post these sorts of things before I listen to them but I think this one looks promising enough to do just that. I just saw the names, am familiar with David Frum from Waking Up with Sam Harris, this should be pretty intense.

Having watched the whole debate now - I was actually very surprised at the end vote, and if I'd voted against the motion I probably wouldn't have necessarily changed my POV, I just wouldn't have had as morally dogmatic a grip on my opinion and would have had an increased respect for the other side. I think what Bannon is bringing up is just a lot of the issues that the political class evade and so much of what Frum was trying to defend people have heard the same rhetoric - ie. what the established political class stands for in the way of democracy, of racial and gender equality, etc. and the admissions that things need to change and that the system needs to be reformed is also something people have heard rinsed and repeated. Bannon effectively raised the question - are these the people to do the job? Can the current crop of politicians do what they've been saying they'd do for years?

Part of the problem with Bannon's style of populism is I think Frum was actually correct about it. While the people who are pushing it, as far as I can tell, are not racist or sexist it's a cause that will magnetize people of that sort and has a way of becoming whatever it absorbs. I think any movement that heats up becomes a power struggle and the least qualified and the worst and most passionate end up at the forefront after a while.

Regardless I think Bannon's extremely important to listen to because there clearly has to be some kind of synthesis between the two points. On one hand we can't have chaos, we can't have populism take central government, but we do need it to turn the dials toward meaningful conversation and action on the issues that fired it up in the first place. I think this is where more quality democrats and republicans start coming to the forefront who aknowledge the failings of the current system and try to take the major points the populists have been making and then try to bake those root concerns into the issue resolution hoped for, like federal legislature solving problems that are plaguing the people rather than just a knock-down-drag out battle for seats, and make it the sort of real negotiation that someone like Eric Weinstein would promote - ie. people of like desires for a better future, in agreement that the other side wants the same as well but differs in the vision or detail of how to get there.