Christian nationalism is the biggest predictor of Trump support.
There is more emphasis on saying “Merry Christman” than loving one’s neighbor or living out other Christian values.
More voters want America to be a nominally Christian nation than to display any actual Christian values.
Neither the Trump campaign and RNC thought Trump would win.
The RNC thought Trump had a 20% chance of winning.
polarization, entertainment, epistemology, Neil Postman
systems, structures, incentives – probably the best bet for change
- gerrymandering, political parties, role of money, power of parties to select nominees: elites vs voters
- in order to be more democratic it needs to be less democratic
How Democracies die: in Latin Americans use democracy to destroy Democracy.
mediated vs direct democracy.
The founders rigged it to keep too much power out of the hands of the rank and file uneducated masses. Thinking that we need the elite to insulate ourselves from ourselves.
Since 1968, there have been reforms away from a balanced system, has swung towards the will of the people deciding almost everything.
The “unwashed masses” — not that the voters are stupid, but they are not experts.
The average voter should not have to know the difference between mandatory and discretionary spending.