On this week's show, The New Capital hosts investor, tycoon, philosopher, philanthropist, and Bush-basher George Soros just prior to his appearance in Houston at The Progressive Forum. Soros' new book, The Age of Fallability, is a meditation on "what's wrong with America" through the lens of Soros' lifelong philosophical "reflexivity" framework. In this framework, absolute truth does not exist, reality difficult to discern, and an individual's thoughts themselves play an active role in the creation of realities. What does any of this have to do with America and American politics? Tune in to find out.
In Houston tonight, expect Soros to focus on the "war on terror," the main topic in his new book. Soros echoes a frequent criticism: a war on an abstract concept, i.e., "terror," is untenable. You can make war on an actual enemy, but you must adopt programs to deal with socio-economic phenomena. To set the stage for Soros on today's show, I'll discuss the best piece I've read on how to "close out" the Bush War on Terror, Declaring Victory" by James Fallows, Bush's latest move with al Qaeda prisoners, and American officials in Iraq who are figuring it out. As elections approach, and the Republican scare machine cranks up, it is vital that the American public not knee jerk into November, but instead carefully consider nuanced arguments about how best to attain security.