Thread by @shadihamid

Thrilled to announce a new feature as part of the growing @WCrowdsLive family. We've launched The Democracy Essays, curated by political philosopher @sckimbriel and TNR staff writer @OsitaNwanevu. They have free rein.

Read their introduction here: wisdomofcrowds.live/introducing-th…

Here's @sckimbriel first essay for @WCrowdsLive—"What is Democracy For?" It's fascinating and incisive like few things I've seen online and gives a taste of some of the questions they'll be exploring. wisdomofcrowds.live/what-is-democr…

One of our preoccupations at @WCrowdsLive has been the question of democracy as a means to other things we hold dear or an end unto itself. This is our attempt to explore these questions in a more systematic and exploratory way.

Osita Nwanevu is one of the most brilliant, exciting writers on the left today. We disagree on a lot, and that's precisely why we're so happy to have him. His first essay for @WCrowdsLive explores "non-domination" as central to the democratic idea. wisdomofcrowds.live/the-inevitabil…

Some backstory. @sckimbriel and @OsitaNwanevu started an exploratory reading group, gathering people from across the ideological spectrum in DC to read foundational texts and interrogate first principles. They have tried to model what a true pluralism of ideas might look like.

Both @dmarusic and I are part of this project—now called “Premises”—and our own ideas have evolved and changed as a result. Members like @ChristineEmba & @ktbenner have joined us on the pod and taken us (mostly me) to task. It's been fun. wisdomofcrowds.live/victorians-man…

This week marks a new phase in the collaboration. We brought on @sckimbriel and @OsitaNwanevu to talk about their ambitions for both "Premises" and The Democracy Essays.

Listen to the episode here, probably one of the meatiest we've done: wisdomofcrowds.live/civility-is-ov…

It's an exciting time for @WCrowdsLive. In addition to their own writing, @sckimbriel and @OsitaNwanevu will be curating essays on "democracy." We're thrilled that Wisdom of Crowds will be their intellectual home for this series. Bookmark it.

wisdomofcrowds.live/democracy_essa…

There's much more to come. Our goal here isn't to win arguments. The goal is to interrogate why we believe the things we believe in. As @dmarusic has said, this is the time to be fearlessly digging into foundational questions. And that is what we plan to do at Wisdom of Crowds.