all of our national leaders are unpopular.

“Both the attention theory and moderation theory share the same fundamental flaw: they accept the existing conflict terrain as given and static. The moderation data nerds and shutdown commentators are bringing the same one-dimensional view.” @leedrutman.bsky.social

A thoughtful essay worth your time.

"If we are concerned about America's slide into authoritarianism, as we well should be, the response isn't asking Democrats to fight harder or 'moderate.' The answer is to stop accepting Republican conflicts and create new ones." leedrutman.substack.com/p/how-democr...

My read is that the White House wants a shutdown more than Democrats do. This suggests to me that this shutdown could last a long time.

I fear Democrats are being goaded into a shutdown that they have not strategically prepared for. I don't think the same old healthcare fight is a winner for them. More from me on Democrats' failures to develop a strategic theory of conflict: leedrutman.substack.com/p/how-democr...

The @nytimes.com and @natecohn.bsky.social shared their readers' ideas for how to stop gerrymandering. The most popular proposal? Proportional representation. "Proportional representation would make gerrymandering irrelevant. But it would do a lot more than that." t.co/1nLM8D02E8

“The authors contend that although policy positions are often dressed up in principled language, justifications based on some essential compass are misleading.” Exactly right. Most media & academics pros mistake US rhetoric for beliefs, which leads to total misunderstandings of actual politics.

@adambonica.bsky.social is onto something incredibly important here. Parties that should be doing the hard work of democratic engagement and mobilization are just becoming spam and grift operations. Yet democracy depends on political parties. We need better parties.

"Campaigns that should be building movements are instead building donor databases. Political energy that could mobilize communities gets redirected into optimizing email subject lines and testing which desperate plea extracts the most dollars from exhausted supporters." substack.com/inbox/post/1...

"Either Democrats lead the fight to clean up the system or they will be remembered as complicit in its collapse." substack.com/home/post/p-...

It is 2025. America is falling into authoritarianism. And the Democratic Party does not have a strategic theory of political conflict. leedrutman.substack.com/p/how-democr...

How about we have a day to remember ALL the victims of gun violence in this country? The politicians, the children, and every other life cut short in a deranged country with too many guns and too much social isolation. Charlie Kirk was one. One of too many. www.axios.com/2025/09/18/c...

Seems relevant. "Most people strongly believe they are just, virtuous, and moral; yet regard the average person as distinctly less so." "Taken together, these findings suggest that moral superiority is a uniquely strong and prevalent form of ‘‘positive illusion.""

I just send a message that THIS IS NOT OKAY

Really feels like we've moved from Stage 3 Doom Loop to Stage 4 Doom Loop in this past week.

(not that Democrats are great, but wow) news.gallup.com/opinion/gall...

Wait, I thought Republicans and their heroes were firmly against cancel culture, and firmly for free speech. ???? ??????? www.vox.com/politics/461...

i'm really a single issue voter at this point: electoral reform. if we don't "break the two-party doom loop', as @leedrutman.bsky.social put it, it's hard to see how we don't escalate to killing each other even more than we are, let alone get any kind of sane and sensible governance.

Realizing we're trapped in a doom loop is the first step to getting out of it. Timely reading from @leedrutman.bsky.social leedrutman.substack.com/p/we-are-sti...

Anti-fusion laws were designed to block competition and cross-ideological collaboration. Repealing them won’t fix everything, but it’s a small, powerful step toward a more accountable, responsive democracy. #FusionVoting @leedrutman.bsky.social @americanbar.org www.americanbar.org/groups/publi...

Something has gone very wrong in our collective psychology right now. I fear this will not end well. Too many people have convinced themselves that we are on the verge of a civil war. At some point cosplaying becomes showing up with guns. leedrutman.substack.com/p/we-are-sti...

“The Left" and “The Right” are unhelpful abstractions we make to collapse reality into the binary zero-sum conflict that drives us all crazy. Rather, there are many overlapping identities that cohere in one way now, but could re-align differently.

Start your day with something new: our latest #ThisOldDemocracy podcast episode is here. All about the authoritarian mindset with @msifry.bsky.social and @ianbassin.bsky.social from @protectdemocracy.org (Links below)

To any Detroit-area folks interested in electoral reform, I'll be there on Monday (9/15)

I agree. People who want to assume the worst about certain groups will assume the worst about certain groups, regardless of the evidence. A lesson in psychology. We are not "rational" creatures. We are group-oriented, status-seeking primates.

I think it is possible to hold 2 things in your head simultaneously. 1. Murder is always wrong; and 2. Charlie Kirk practiced an abhorrent politics of crude racism.

social cascades are weird things

"It is easier to heighten the conflicts when others on your side have nowhere else to go. And that is the problem. It is a party system problem. And a party system problem by definition requires a party system solution." leedrutman.substack.com/p/doomier-an...

doomier and loopier

Reminder: Overwhelming majorities of Americans reject political violence. But it only takes a small number of deranged political assassins (sometimes only one) to cause political chaos. democracyfund.org/idea/democra...

It is 2025. America is falling into authoritarianism. And the Democratic Party does not have a strategic theory of political conflict. A theory of attention is not a strategic theory of conflict. A theory of moderation is not a strategic theory of conflict. leedrutman.substack.com/p/how-democr...

I study political parties around the world and have never seen a governing party so openly contemptuous of its country, laws, and citizens. The GOP seems to hate America, Americans, our constitution, and democracy in general.

"In 4 out of 10 local offices, the 2026 midterms will be in the hands of people who have never run a national election." Seems... not great. www.governing.com/management-a...

Department of Government Efficiency, indeed.

American politicians are unfathomably, remarkably old. And the likely explanation is clear: it's our electoral system. Read this by @leedrutman.bsky.social. The gerontocracy is literally a policy choice. leedrutman.substack.com/p/why-americ...

Via @leedrutman.bsky.social leedrutman.substack.com/p/why-americ...

You may have noticed: American politicians are really old. You may not know that American politicians are exceptionally old compared to other democracies. Congratulations, USA: we are the world's most advanced gerontocracy. American exceptionalism, indeed. open.substack.com/pub/leedrutm...

The way I fight fire is by wielding my banged up copy of E.E. Schattschneider's The Semi-Sovereign People (1960) www.vox.com/politics/459...

I lost my copy of "The Semi-Sovereign People" and a replacement costs $50. But there's something Schattschneider wrote in there about "the losing side should expand the size of the conflict" to bring in those previously sitting on the sidelines. This is a really excellent essay you should read 👇.

Glad Democrats put too much messaging oomph into one basket

From our new podcast: The more you read a little less news and a little more history, the more you realize: progress may be messy, but it moves in one direction. @leedrutman.bsky.social @newamerica.org @msifry.bsky.social #ThisOldDemocracy

The Democrats don’t have a messaging problem. They have a much bigger problem: They have accepted a losing political battle they never chose without even realizing it. New from me: www.vox.com/politics/459...

I spent last summer in the weirdest city in politics. Omaha voted Democrat for President, Independent for Senate, Republican for House. @leedrutman.bsky.social and I explain why places like that are going away, and what we can do about it, in the latest Ripon Forum. riponsociety.org/article/is-t...

Not so much under our current electoral system. riponsociety.org/article/is-t...

“Dan, how do we legalize fusion voting?” OK, maybe no one actually asks me that on the street—but here’s the answer: Litigation. Citizens in KS, NJ, and WI are suing for their right to nominate candidates under their own party label. It’s about freedom of association. Let voters choose and be heard.

The old age of our leaders is unique compared to the rest of the world. We have the one of the largest age gaps between legislators and those they represent, and (by far) the largest share of representatives over 60. Why is that?