Ernesto Cortes – The Organizer Mindset
The Glenn Show
Glenn Loury
4.8 • 2.3K Ratings
🗓️ 3 February 2023
⏱️ 70 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
0:00 Ernie’s work as an organizer
5:45 Tension, polarization, and reconciliation
12:49 The drama of organizing
18:21 The definition of power
27:52 Ernesto’s work getting running water and sewers to border communities
31:26 Market activity vs. market ideology
41:31 What’s wrong with meritocracy?
56:12 Does identitarianism stand in the way of reconciliation?
Recorded January 19, 2023
Links and Readings
My recent debate with Richard Wolff
Arthur Okun’s book, Equality and Efficiency: A Big Tradeoff
Daniel Bell’s book, The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism
John Kenneth Galbraith’s book, American Capitalism: The Concept of Countervailing Power
Michael Sandel’s book, The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good?
Michael Sandel’s book, What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets
Michael Sandel’s TGS appearance
Franz Fanon’s book, Black Skin, White Masks
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The Glenn Show is brought to you by the Manhattan Institute. |
| 0:04.0 | Please consider becoming a paid subscriber at glenlauri.substac.com. |
| 0:10.0 | As a subscriber, you will receive new episodes on Mondays instead of Fridays |
| 0:15.0 | and get access to exclusive content, ticket pre-sales to lava vents, monthly Q&As |
| 0:21.0 | with Glenn Laurie and John McWater and other benefits. |
| 0:25.0 | Your contribution will also help to fund grassroots initiatives that empower black development across the country |
| 0:32.0 | as we donate 10% of our profits to the Woodson Center. |
| 0:36.0 | Thank you. |
| 0:39.0 | Hi everybody, this is Glenn Laurie. |
| 0:42.0 | You tune into the glenshow at substac.com and at YouTube. |
| 0:47.0 | The glenshow is sponsored by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, where I am John Paulson Senior Fellow. |
| 0:54.0 | And my guest on the show this week is Ernesto Cortez. |
| 0:58.0 | Ernesto Cortez is an old friend and a lifelong political community organizer |
| 1:05.0 | with the Industrial Areas Foundation, Southwest Industrial Areas Foundation, Texas Interfaith. |
| 1:12.0 | And we are here to celebrate Ernie. |
| 1:16.0 | And I'm very happy to be able to do so with the glenshow. So welcome Ernie. |
| 1:20.0 | Thank you. |
| 1:23.0 | Okay, so here's how we're going to do this. |
| 1:27.0 | Ernie, as you can see, is in the prime of his life, he has been doing this for a long time. |
| 1:32.0 | He's a man, a fabled contributor to the art and practice of political organizing. |
| 1:39.0 | Ernie and I have a quarter century long relationship where he would hold seminars of training for his organizers |
| 1:45.0 | and I would be amongst a stable of academics that he'd have come out, talk about our most recent book or paper, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Glenn Loury, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Glenn Loury and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.