Why does the Demo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty strug­gle so much to win elec­tions by com­fort­able mar­gins (when it isn’t los­ing them) despite the fact that the Repub­li­cans are so extreme?

Could there be a hint in the fact that so many ordi­nary Amer­i­cans keep los­ing ground eco­nom­i­cal­ly, no mat­ter who holds the reins of pow­er? Clear­ly, the myth of the Amer­i­can Dream isn’t working.

In this episode, we talk first with Ed Bur­mi­la about his book, Chaot­ic Neu­tral: How the Democ­rats Lost Their Soul in the Cen­ter. Then, Alis­sa Quart of the Eco­nom­ic Hard­ship Report­ing Project tells us about her just released new book, Boot­strapped: Lib­er­at­ing Our­selves from the Amer­i­can Dream.