I predict that in the years ahead Enron, not Sept. 11, will come to be seen as the greater turning point in U.S. society.

America's political landscape is infested with many zombie ideas - beliefs about policy that have been repeatedly refuted with evidence and analysis but refuse to die. The most prominent zombie is the insistence that low taxes on rich people are the key to prosperity.

The problem with digital books is that you can always find what you are looking for but you need to go to a bookstore to find what you weren't looking for.

The habit of disguising ideology as expertise has created a deficit of legitimacy.

If you had to explain America's economic success with one word, that word would be "education".... Until now, the results of educational neglect have been gradual - a slow-motion erosion of America's relative position. But things are about to get much worse, as the economic crisis ... deals a severe blow to education across the board.... We need to wake up and realize that one of the keys to our nation's historic success is now a wasting asset. Education made America great; neglect of education can reverse the process.

I have friends, political scientists, sociologists, who all share an interest at least in certain kinds of science fiction.

The goal in the end is not to win elections. The goal is to change society.