The tear-down/build-up dichotomy sidesteps the fact that the tear-down side consists of wealthy oligarchs tearing down the government, when what we need is the

The tear-down/build-up dichotomy sidesteps the fact that the tear-down side consists of wealthy oligarchs tearing down the government, when what we need is the opposite. There are many entrenched interests that support the status quo, and politicians are only one such group. The article alludes to this with the thing about the firefighters union, but then seems to go right on with the idea of persuading the elected officials, rather than recognizing a need to dismantle the apparatus of "highly engaged stakeholders" who feed into politics. There is a lot that needs to be torn down. That said, I agree that shifting politicians against the status quo is part of the solution. I do get a sense that things are moving in that direction. At least now it's becoming politically difficult in CA to not at least make some gestures towards supporting housing affordability. And every failure to back those gestures up with action leads to increasing pressure. The balance hasn't shifted yet but it's teetering more than it has for a while.