George Packer

[observation, 2013] I am struck by how many opportunities we've been given to correct course. I mean 9/11 was a big one. The election of Obama was a big one, the financial crisis, the tremendous ravages of the recession. And here we are, and it just doesn't seem like a whole lot has changed, at least not in the centers of power - Wall Street, Washington, Silicon Valley, the media. I think in small, out-of-the-way places there's a tremendous amount of ferment and dissatisfaction. I don't know how that adds up to an historic change. I think it might and we'll look back and see what we're missing now, but it's very hard to game it from the middle of it. We may be at an early stage of a new progressive era. It's just that, because we're still in the darkness, we can't really see it. Show less «