How the United States lost the faith of its citizens—and what it can do to win them back

adapted from Yascha Mounk’s new book, The People vs. Democracy: Why Our Freedom Is in Danger and How to Save It.

Human brains aren’t built for self-rule, says Shawn Rosenberg. That’s more evident than ever.

Rick Shenkman, founder of George Washington University’s History News Network, is the author of Political Animals: How Our Stone-Age Brain Gets in the Way of Smart Politic

read her first sci-fi book Infomocracy, but felt it was narrow and idea-light

"how many of the recent “failures of democracy” have come about not because “institutions eroded” but because those institutions either were never intended to be democratic or have recently been adjusted to be exclusionary?"

"Democracy is not a unitary state that can be achieved, but a continuous process. We need to keep reinventing and refining government, to keep up with changes in society and technology and to keep it from being too easy for elites with resources to exploit. And it is worth fighting for. Not because of the founders, or because it sounds good, but because while democracy may be far from perfect, it is still the best system we’ve got. At least so far."