#464 — The Politics of Pragmatism and the Future of California

#464 — The Politics of Pragmatism and the Future of California

From Making Sense with Sam Harris by Sam Harris

March 16, 2026 · 1h 22m

About this episode

Sam Harris speaks with Matt Mahan about governance, pragmatism, and California's policy failures.

Sam Harris speaks with Matt Mahan, mayor of San Jose and Democratic candidate for governor of California, about governance, pragmatism, and California's policy failures. They discuss the dysfunction of progressive governance, the homelessness crisis and what San Jose has done to reduce it, the proposed wealth tax and its likely backfire, why California can't build housing affordably, rent control, mandatory psychiatric holds, the influence of special interests in Sacramento, and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at samharris.org/subscribe .

People in this episode

Host: Sam Harris

Guest: Matt Mahan

Topics covered

  • governance
  • pragmatism
  • California policy
  • homelessness crisis
  • progressive governance
  • housing affordability
  • special interests

Keywords

  • California
  • governance
  • homelessness
  • wealth tax
  • housing
  • rent control
  • psychiatric holds

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: San Jose, California, Sacramento

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