What We Say, Think, and Write

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It’s not our role to prescribe answers to every policy dispute (though we all have strong opinions). We intend to focus on structural problems and bipartisan responses. Democrats and Republicans can go back to arguing over the compass direction after we patch the holes in the hull, ensure the tiller is responsive to the wheel, and scrape away the rust and barnacles.

The dysfunction in Washington, D.C. and the election of Donald Trump are symptoms. American politics has been corrupted, and much of the corruption is camouflaged. 

Unfortunately, technological and social changes are exacerbating risks.  Even if our present politics was pure as driven snow, we would still be justified in worrying about:  the looming end of most 20th century jobs; our ability to access facts in a world of “deep fakes” and international plots to subvert the truth; light-speed financial markets outrunning regulation (or even competent risk assessment); the rise of powerful non-state actors, including pernicious corporate monopolies; the heedless sprint towards artificial intelligence and designer human genetics; the precipitous decline of American influence; and the coming climate change chaos.

But political reformers don’t have to solve all those – just restore the democratic system’s ability to do so. So, don’t lose hope. Americans are, and should be, optimists (and Sam Adams wouldn’t put up with any belly-aching).