Game Changer event with economist and author Arnold Kling

ABOUT THIS EVENT

Tuesday, January 24, 2023

7-8 pm CST

The Three Languages of Politics

When it was first released in 2013, Arnold Kling’s The Three Languages of Politics was a prescient exploration of political communication, detailing the “three tribal coalitions” that make up America’s political landscape. Progressives, conservatives, and libertarians, he argued, are “like tribes speaking different languages. As a result, political discussions do not lead to agreement. Instead, most political commentary serves to increase polarization.”

Now available as a newly revised and expanded edition, Kling’s book could not be any more timely, as Americans—whether as media pundits or conversing at a party—talk past one another with even greater volume, heat, and disinterest in contrary opinions.The Three Languages of Politics is an accessible, precise, and insightful guide to how to lower the barriers coarsening our politics. This is not a book about one ideology over another. Instead, it is a book about how we communicate issues and our ideologies, and how language intended to persuade instead divides. Kling offers a way to see through our rhetorical blinders so that we can incorporate new perspectives, nuances, and thinking into the important issues we must together share and resolve.

Arnold Kling

Arnold Kling is an economist by training currently on his nth career, which involves writing. His first career was as a teacher, which included writing and blogging, his second career was as an internet entrepreneur, third was a middle manager for Freddie Mac, and then he joined the Federal Reserve Board as an economist. In the late ‘80s, Kling’s team won the international Othello (board game) championship in Milan, Italy, individually placing sixth place overall. During graduate school at MIT, Kling tried international folk dancing, settling on Israeli folk dancing classes where he met his wife, Jackie. Kling’s political and economic beliefs have swung across every inch of the spectrum, settling in for the last decade with the label of libertarian. He has written seven books, updating his 2013 book The Three Languages of Politics, and republishing in 2019.

Moderator Jerod Tufte

Jerod Tufte was elected to a ten year term on the North Dakota Supreme Court in 2016. He served 8 years as a JAG officer in the Army National Guard and four years as general counsel to Governor Jack Dalrymple. He lives with his wife Mylynn and their three kids on a ranch in rural Kidder County.

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Humanities North Dakota classes and events are funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities