How much has politics changed in the last 20 years?

That was a different time — a time before President Trump and MAGA, before the wealth gap continued to expand, before the country became as polarized as it is today, and before algorithm-driven media took hold.

But how different were things, really? What can we learn from that era of politics? And what should we be glad we’ve left behind?

Jennifer Granholm was Michigan’s governor from 2003 to 2011. She also served as energy secretary under the Biden administration. Granholm is on Mackinac Island for this year’s Mackinac Policy Conference, where she spoke with The Metro’s Robyn Vincent.

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