Thread by @davekarpf

Man, I just listened to @ezraklein interview @Yascha_Mounk on his podcast.

For a political scientist who writes a ton about American politics, Mounk *really* needs to reread his E.E. Schattschneider.
(1/2 or 3)

The central insight from Schattschneider is that politics is not like an intercollegiate debate where the rules, norms, and boundaries are agreed upon in advance.

Politics, rather, is about the mobilization of bias. Politics is about about power.
(2/3)

As far as I can tell, Mounk’s new publication/newsletter/community is constructed around the premise that politics *should be* like an intercollegiate debate.

He wants to gather some wonderful debaters to show off just how nice that would be.
(3/4, I guess)

This is not a minor disagreement.

Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley LOVE the bland premise of liberal democracy as open debate.

It lets them wield structural power unchecked by anything but the clucking of tongues.
(4/5)

To argue that THIS is what we most need in 2020 displays the strangest of priorities.

The regulatory state has withered and died.

Political elites defend outright graft, corruption, fascism and white supremacy.

Our elections are neither secure nor free and fair.
(5/6)

Liberal democratic values endorse none of these atrocities. But they also don’t directly challenge any of them.

So why Persuasion? Why now?

Schattschneider teaches us to focus on how the terms of the debate are being set, and who sets them.

These are the wrong terms for 2020