James Carville famously coined “It’s the economy, stupid!” reminding Bill Clinton to focus on economic issues. Unfortunately, given the civic illiteracy of most Americans, an exhortation to focus on the nation’s structural flaws would be met with confusion rather than recognition.
In my Law and Public Policy classes, I emphasized those underappreciated structural issues–the effect of such things as the Electoral College, gerrymandering and the filibuster on democratic deliberation and policy formation. This essay from Lincoln Square may mean that recognition of our underlying problem is spreading.
The essay calls for an honest evaluation of the incentives and disincentives built into our governing structures, and recognition of the fact that economic and social stress will reveal both the strengths and weakness of those structures.
Not all of those problems are governmental. The essay begins by describing distortions of our current information environment–distortions to which I frequently allude.
In the United States, stress is filtered through an information environment that does not clarify reality but actively distorts it. A significant share of Americans consume content labeled “news” that does not perform the function of news. Rather than explaining policy, demystifying institutions, or holding power accountable, this content is engineered to provoke emotional arousal—disgust, resentment, fear, and a sense of embattled identity. Fox News is the clearest and most consequential example, not because it is merely biased or provocative, but because it pioneered a durable model: partisan infotainment optimized for outrage, monetized confusion, and political alignment.
The effect is not simply misinformation. It is misdirection.
As the essay quite accurately notes, this misdirection is amplified by social media.
Of course, it isn’t only the Wild West of the Internet. As the essay reminds us, America has a history of excluding entire populations from our social contract–pairing a rhetoric of democracy with a practice of authoritarianism.
And governmental design decisions compound over time. Constitutional mechanisms were built to restrain the “passions of the masses”–aka democracy. So we have a Senate where equal power is exercised by states with dramatically unequal populations, a House of Representatives that has kept 435 members despite the quadrupling of the population, gerrymandering that allows representatives to choose their voters… And a Supreme Court, “always undemocratic by design” that has become an “active amplifier of minority rule, weakening democracy’s capacity for self-defense.”
As the essay quite accurately notes, these are not incidental flaws.
The Electoral College sits at the center of this architecture. Its defenders invoke balance and federalism, but its operational effect is to concentrate political attention on a handful of “swing states.” The very existence of swing states is evidence of democratic distortion. National policy—on climate, trade, war, and public health—is effectively decided by a narrow slice of voters in seven or eight states. Politicians are not incentivized to ask what is best for the country as a whole; they are incentivized to ask what will move a few thousand persuadable voters just enough to reach 51 percent.
And then there’s an imperial Presidency that has steadily accumulated power and a Congress “weakened by polarization and perverse incentives” that “no longer serves as an effective counterweight.” The Presidency has morphed into an executive office increasingly resembling an elected monarchy. (We the People may say “No kings,” but we’re a bit late to the dance….)
The essay goes on to document the real-world consequences of these structural flaws.
We like to believe that America is “Number One,” but compared to other democratic countries, “Americans live shorter lives, experience higher rates of preventable mortality, and endure greater levels of violence. Inequality is extreme enough that life expectancy can differ by more than a decade—and in some cases approaching two—within the same metropolitan area.” We spend more per capita on healthcare than any other advanced democracy but produce worse outcomes– a “result of a value-extractive system that inserts intermediaries to capture profit, rationing care by price, complexity, and employment status.
Education, childcare, and family policy follow the same logic. In peer democracies, these are treated as civic infrastructure. In the United States, they are treated as private burdens or market opportunities. Higher education is prohibitively expensive. Childcare costs rival housing. Paid family leave is not guaranteed. These choices shape long-term social cohesion—and political behavior.
Desperation is fertile ground for demagoguery.
In a paragraph that truly “says it all,” the author writes that what matters is how societies are designed: “how resources are allocated, who controls those allocations, and whose lives are deprioritized when scarcity is treated as inevitable.”
If and when we emerge from our Trumpian nightmare, we must correct the systemic flaws that got us here. It won’t be easy.
Sheila, this an excellent essay. it needs to be spread widely. I will be sharing it with my friends and family. Thank you for your daily letters!
I was amazed Indiana voted down the latest round of gerrymandering. A small ray of hope. But I fear looming tgat stands in the way of overall progress is the amount of corruption in our government. Money meant to provide for the homeless and children are fraudulently used. Ellison the Minneapolis AG has turned a blind eye to and even met with fraudulent donors? Then there’s Piretti who showed up with a gun to protest, the out of control agent in jeans and a jacket escalated everything and as Piretti was detained and being disarmed the out of control agent fired?
We definately need to keep the national debt under control too. Will we vote in Canadian provinces if they vote to leavr Canada. Will our golden dome be protected keeping us safe from attacks.
We have to again be aware that 100 IQ is the mean of the voter and people on both sides are being more radicalized. Prayers, save the king, ha.
As this article points out, our Founders wanted to protect the owners of the country from losing their wealth to the people via democracy. “Why, those peasants might rise up and steal our property that we stole from the Native Americans. We can’t have that!” LOL
As for the economy, I don’t think too many of the puppets in Washington fully understand what is happening on a geopolitical level. Mark Carney called the old world order as “ruptured.” Thanks to Trump, Carney’s Canada has turned to China for a deal and Trump has threatened him with massive tariffs which is a perfect example of why Carney turned to China. LOL
Obviously, Canada isn’t the only one turning to China or Russia. All of Europe suffered when Biden sabotaged the German and Russian Nord Stream pipeline. The propaganda story is that a small group of Ukrainians leased a boat and set explosives to blow up two of the main energy pipelines from Russia to Europe. If anybody believes that, they might want to turn off their TVs.
Another great example is the Venezuelan project. There are still MAGAs who think it was about drug trafficking because that’s what Fox told them. It was always about the oil. All the performances tell us one thing, but the reality is something else. We the taxpayers will either guarantee loans or directly pay for Big Oil to set up oil extraction in Venezuela. That’s a given.
We’ve pretended to be a democratic republic for a long time, but the masks are off now. The propaganda keeps flowing on the right and left, but it doesn’t take long to figure it out if you put down the remotes.
I can tell you globally, the Anglo-Zionist empire that has run things since WW2 is falling apart (rupturing). The dollar is in BIG trouble!! Central banks around the world are buying gold and silver which have both set historic records. [HUGE RED FLAGS]
p.s. If Trump slaps a 100% tariff on Canada, our major supplier of lumber, how will that impact housing affordability? 😉
Sheila,
Another thoughtful and timely piece. I know you have written a few books and was curious if you have considered cataloging the Trump Era? The breakdown of America in one year during his second term demonstrates the efforts of those who look to use power to fundamentally change America while enriching themselves. Trump is not that smart but he is as divisive a soul as there is on the planet.
Brilliant essay, Sheila. You brought back for me the memories of enriching student/professor debates at University of Texas on public policy and urban planning. >> “If and when we emerge from our Trumpian nightmare, we must correct the systemic flaws that got us here. It won’t be easy”< REDIRECT > REDUCTION of ICE by Congress to hold them accountable to evidence based procedural justice in full collaboration with local and state authorities when operating away from ports of entry and our borders. Trump’s legacy is sealed as the lost man child surrounded by sinister evil ‘foster parents’ that have turned The White House into a sludge tank to destroy America.
Is the John S, 6:35 a.m. contribution an AI post?
“If and when we emerge from our Trumpian nightmare, we must correct the systemic flaws that got us here. It won’t be easy.”
AI is a system which was touted to be the answer to unconfusing the people-posted information with a mechanical brain to supply all of the correct answers to all of our problems; be they the structure or the economy. My question is two part…are all AI posts identified as such and do they include further research sites or are we to believe and accept their responses as “gospel”? Who is entering the AI information into the information structure we rely on for information outside of our limited knowledge? All of this is part of the information “Structure” we use which is all part of the current electronic, computerized life forces which increases daily, ad infinitum, and is all available in iCloud to those such as Edward Snowden to release or control at whim.
IF we escape Trumpism, recuperation will certainly NOT be easy because we are being encouraged more and more every day NOT to think for ourselves but to press buttons or use keyboards to give us the questions and the answers in one post. Alan Watts was totally correct in the past century when he stated, “Man is going to computerize himself out of existence.” This, to me, is how Donald Trump has gained total control over our current existence; he is a computerized lying, killing machine so there must be an Off Switch somewhere on some computer keyboard somewhere.
The blog title is the truth; “It’s The Structure, Stupid”
Rick, this did not happen in a single year under Trump, he’s just the cherry on the top of the very long term Koch and Leonard Leo quiet work to sabotage what democracy we had.
If the greater society learns about the failure of the structure from this crisis, and acts to correct it, it might all be worth it, but, there will be people working to prevent any fixing.
A fellow, living in my development, was overheard yesterday telling someone that “We have to get all the illegal criminals off the streets.” I assume that his discussion had to do with the latest ICE shooting, or just ICE presence, on the streets, which he, presumably, supports. When people buy into the Trump lies, like the old one about the “caravans” of immigrants at the southern border, they start from a false premise, and can not arrive at a realistic point of view…exactly Trump’s intent.
Advertizing is our favorite anesthetic. Political ads are misdirection. Lies are the currency. Truth is relative. Do not believe your lying eyes.
‘Desperation is fertile ground for demagoguery’ and this is what our systems has lead the majority of the populace too. We are not doing well and have not for a very long time because of how this country and the way the economy has been set to continuously award the wealthy and the elite. Economically, it started before Reagan, but the dissent was hastened under his regime.
The populace bought into the myth that somehow we had control of our situations–if we could just work harder and harder and pull ourselves up by our bootstraps than we can make it; but this was a myth a lie. The odds continue to be stacked against the majority. I will occasionally will read business articles–the slant is against the worker–written by the oligarchs who are in control of all of us. A revolution is in our midst
The immediacy of our crisis leaves little room for reasoned dialogue and debate. When military weapons on the street are in the hands of those promised blanket pardons for homicide, assault and kidnapping anyone they consider suspicious (read, not white), confronted by people who demand the exercise of their Constitutional rights, murdering and disappearing become the norm. We are told to believe the perps and demonize the victims. It is moving so fast while we talk and talk and talk. I am tired of hearing those who demand that Democrats act while ignoring the fact that they elected Republicans who are silently complicit. Do something? What exactly? More talk? More protests? To what end? While people are being murdered and disappeared, no due process, no equal protections, the mad king hold a movie premier in Our House for his wife, a naturalized citizen, attended by the CEO and COO of publicly traded corporations, billionaires (sociopaths all) in black ties and formals, feasting on delicacies a la “let them eat cake”.
They care nothing for any of us.
I fear that the 350M arms held by the vast populous are going to be the deciding factor. Will the military support this soft coup, soon to become bloody?
RESIST.
All true, and so well laid out (including comments). I would feel more comfortable concentrating on those facts if it were not for the absence of any mention of the Epstein files, which I’m afraid drives many if not all of what is taking place by this administration. All distractions, all of them detrimental and poisonous, some fatal. Loosely and casually administered, with no forethought or care because it doesn’t matter; the distraction is what it’s all about. Just remove any mention of the Epstein files, representing the illegal, immoral, heinous sexual crimes committed by many powerful people who could afford it, led by no other than DJT. He simply cannot get away with this one, and the proof is in the unredacted Epstein files. The DOJ is currently – confirmed my Todd Blanche – in the process of redacting “victim” mentions in 5 million or so files. What are the odds that DJT is referred to as a “victim” for those purposes, rather than the actual underage victims? Many know what’s going on….it would only take one with half a conscience to reveal the truth.
The great awakening that we all hope for is a long way away. The people who make up the far rights’ base, when combined with the third of people who don’t know and couldn’t care less make up a majority of our population.
Have any of you seen the Facebook posts that offer easy arithmetic problems and a challenge to solve them? These are, IMHO, a perfect example of how hard it is to teach Americans today. After more than ten years of emphasis on STEM education, far too many of us can’t even do simple arithmetic. What will it take to teach the unwilling to care enough to learn? Rights come with responsibilities!