Ro Khanna reminds Democrats: Americans love money

For a relatively green, relatively unknown (but very ambitious) member of Congress, Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, has managed to position himself squarely at the intersection of competing, if not downright contradictory, interests and ideas that could shape the future of his party. The 47-year-old, whose district includes part of Silicon Valley and who served in the Commerce Department under President Barack Obama and later as co-chairman of Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign, is trying to place progressivism in a more economic perspective. light. He calls his approach "progressive capitalism" and "new economic patriotism", and he believes it is the key to broadening the progressive coalition to include the troubled middle of the country and those who otherwise might associate progressivism with redistribution economic rather than growth. This shift in focus is also what he sees as crucial to President Biden's re-election chances. “We can't settle for a triumphant message: 'Look at all the great things we've done,'" says Khanna, who is often mentioned as a possible 2028 presidential candidate. "Meet people where they are find. They don’t think we’re in a great place.

Where do you see the greatest tension between the two sides of a term like "progressive capitalism"? The main progressive driving idea has largely been redistribution: we must tax the rich. There are challenges I would pose to this. I support increased taxation of the rich, but the focus needs to be on economic output – on how can we grow the pie? Not just redistribution, but also giving more people the opportunity to create wealth. This must be part of the progressive vision and it must involve the private sector. You can't build new steel plants in this country, in Ashtabula, Ohio, or in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, if you don't work with the private sector. So, to challenge the progressive side: focus on production and be open to partnering with the private sector. On the side of capitalism: we have to worry about the place. You can't just say have all this macroeconomic growth and not focus on every district in America. Make sure you understand that it's a bad thing for America that my district has a $10 trillion enterprise value and other districts are totally hopeless.

Do you think your majority aspirations are possible if the most fiery members of the progressive caucus remain its face? You have a way of asking very provocative questions in a very understated way, like: "What did you eat for breakfast?" [Laughs.] I think it's not possible to have a majority progressive coalition without fire and without some extraordinary members of Congress who reach out to young people and mobilize them. But it has to be broader than that.

Representative Ro Khanna with Senator Bernie Sanders at a 2020 California rally for Sanders' presidential campaign.

Brittany Hosea-Small/Agence France -Presse, via Getty Images

Is this just sophisticated triangulation? When you look at my record, it is deeply progressive, but I also believe that we need to understand the importance of the multiracial coalition that President Obama has built and demonstrate humility when speaking to black and brown voters. Too often, they have not been sufficiently part of the progressive coalition. No one will be better able to articulate the model of a multiracial, multiethnic democracy than Obama, but to get there, perhaps we start with the economy. Let's say we can build things together: immigrants and people with Mayflower heritage, people of color and white working class people. Americans love money. They like economic opportunities. Maybe the economy is one way to start unifying this country.

When people recently asked you about the lack of a Democratic challenger to Biden, you emphasized the power of the incumbent and the fact ...