David Callahan is a Senior Fellow at Demos and author of Fortunes of Change: The Rise of the Liberal Rich and the Remaking of America. His research shows a clear trend among the rich in America towards more liberal politics.

David believes there are four reasons for this shift: a. The upper class increasingly made up of highly educated knowledge workers b. Wealth creation is increasingly concentrated in the bluest parts of America — from New York City to the San Francisco Bay area to Seattle c. More money is starting to pass down to heirs, who tend to be more liberal than parents or grandparents who make the original fortunes and d. The growing extremism of the Republican Party.

One of the ironies of this political shift is that the liberal rich want to become increasingly active in social & civic life but, by doing so, become so influential that they actually threaten more widespread democracy.

A cool term David used during the interview was “green washing”—using a “green” issue to deflect or obfuscate from another, more serious issue.

Listen to the interview, in its entirety, below: