YGL2014 Matt Stoller (2) Senior Policy Advisor, REP. Alan Grayson
What issues are you working on that affect young people and Why should they care? I want a more interesting world, and right now economic trends are working against that. This is because young people are being denied the ability to shape the world in which they live through financial deprivation. Money is permission to use social resources.That’s why credit reporting agencies and data brokers have immense amounts of information on every American because it’s important to dole out permission with intense care for what kind of society is allowed. Or to put it another way, if you only allow the most boring ass-kissers access to money, then you’re going to have a boring society run by ass-kissers. I prefer a society run by the Edward Snowden’s of the world than the ticky tack awfulness of Henry Kissinger’s spiritual children. Why has politics become so adversarial? That’s democracy, and heated political rhetoric is much better than violent conflict. People who say that we should all get along in politics are usually just mad at democratic checks on their preferred policies. For example, David Walker and Bob Rubin are constantly talking about the need to stop fighting with each other, fix our dysfunctional politics, then get on with cutting social programs. I’m sorry, but that’s just rich people saying that democracy is intruding into their desire to be jerks to the non-rich. Another way to phrase the question is, why do our political and legal institutions increasingly fail to deliver results that satisfy the broad mass of the public? The answer is that we increasingly have a system of aristocracy, and aristocrats have an interest in destroying democratic mechanisms of governance so they can organize our social resources. They need to paralyze the political system and democratic structures to do it to make sure the country serves their needs, and so their kids don’t have to compete with middle-class kids on an even playing field. This paralysis has allowed bad cell service, poor utilities, crappy broadband, a bad banking system (worse than Kenya in mobile payments, for example). On a basic level, when you don’t govern, your bridges fall down, but this can be a winner for a small elite even if everyone else loses. For example, if you want tax cuts for your helicopter and you don’t use the
Afshin Molavi
David Muse
Danielle Moodie-Mills
DJ, Music Producer
Senior Advisor/Global GeoPolitical Risk, Oxford Analytica
Advisor LGBT Policy and Racial Justice, Center for American Progress
Josh Morgan
Wide Receiver, The Washington Redskins
Deejay Neekola Heidi Nel
Senior Vice President, Fitzgibbon Media
Jared Nelson
Featured Dancer, The Washington Ballet
maryam mujica
Public Affairs Specialist/Attorney, U.S. Department of State
Patrick Murphy
U.S. Congressman (D-Fla.)
Chris Murphy
Konrad Ng
Director, Smithsonian APA Program
Paul Nitze
Special Assistant to U.S. Attorney, District of Maryland
Elizabeth Hendricks
U.S. Senator (D-Conn.)
WA S H I N G T O N L I F E
Artistic Director, Studio Theatre
| fe b r u a r y
2014
| washingtonlife.com
bridges, then it might make sense to gut funding for bridge repair in favor of your own financial health. Motto/quote you live by? “If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they’ll kill you.” — Oscar Wilde Favorite charity/cause?: I give to people who ask me for money on the street. It’s important not to ignore the obvious misery our society allows to exist. all-time favorite book? “Carbon Democracy” by Timothy Mitchell What is the most pressing world problem today? Climate change Jennifer Hing (3) Communications Director/Senior Advisor, House Committee on Appropriations, U.S. House of Representatives
What are the most important issues you are working on? My committee is currently writing a massive Omnibus Appropriations bill to fund the entirety of the federal government for the current fiscal year. Why has politics become so adversarial? Congress is polarized because the country is polarized. Politics and legislating is supposed to be difficult. That is the way the founding fathers intended it. Favorite local hangouts/restaurants/bars? The Tune Inn for beer and chicken balls. Rose’s Luxury for everything they serve. I’m a Hill rat. Favorite charity/cause? K-9 Corps at the Congressional Cemetery. My dogs and I have been members for years. Nowhere else in the city can you play with your dog off-leash surrounded by such remarkable history.
North
President, The Curiosity Project
Ora Nwabueze
Alex Ovechkin
Left Wing/Captain, The Washington Capitals; Founder, Crazy Eights
Owner, The Dunes
jummy olabanji
Reporter, ABC7 News
Anne Olaimey
John Pacheco
Director, C&M International
Bindu Pamarthi
Director of Occie Business Liaison, U.S. Department of Commerce
Student, Georgetown Law; Miss DC 2013
Maggie O’Neill
Charlie Paret
Owner, O’Neill Studios LLC
Brian Orakpo
Outside Linebacker, The Washington Redskins
Laura O’Shaughnessy
CEO, Social Code
Marquis Perkins Creative Director Destination DC
Tom Perriello
President/CEO, Center for American Progress
Dan Pfeiffer
Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor, The White House
Macon Phillips
Coordinator, State Department
Managing Director, Paxton Stuart LLC; Co-Founder, The Sundance Collective and DC Entrepreneurs Week
Trita Parsi
Founder, National Iranian American Council
Erich Pica
President, Friends of the Earth
Bob Pilon
Chief Development Officer, The ONE Campaign
amanda polk
Philanthropy Consultant
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