The Long Game

"When politicians can't get anything done, it breeds distrust. It breeds anger ... The weakening of parties ... most people think it's a good thing," Elaine Kamarck says. But, she warns that "the weakening of parties has meant the weakening of government. People don't like that, but very few people see the connection between political parties and government." Kamarck, a Brookings Institution senior fellow and a Democratic National Committee member and superdelegate, talks about her proposal to have a party gathering prior to the presidential primary to vote on potential candidates. But she says she doesn't care if superdelegates go away. She also says she doesn't fault Reince Priebus for not doing more as RNC Chairman to block Donald Trump from the nomination.

Resources:

• "Re-inserting peer review in the American presidential nomination process," by Elaine Kamarck
• "Primary Politics: How Presidential Candidates Have Shaped the Modern Nominating System," by Elaine Kamarck
• "20 of America's top political scientists gathered to discuss our democracy. They're scared." - Sean Illing, Vox
• "How Autocracy Rises: What Institutional Failure Really Means," Umair Haque
• "Is the American Idea Doomed?" Yoni Applebaum, The Atlantic

• Opening music: "Safe If We Don't Look Down (Imagined Herbal Flows Remix)" - Mutemath
• Closing music: "Changes" - Mutemath

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Jonathan Rauch's 2016 Atlantic cover story, "How American Politics Went Insane," argued that we've reformed our politics into dysfunction. We talk about how telling people to vote or participate in the process is not, on its own, going to solve our problems. We need people to either get involved in political parties or delegate authority to them. The irony, he says, is that "an unmediated, direct democracy, is less democratic and less representative than mediated democracy."

Episode 1 explained how I got interested in the topic of institutions by asking myself why the Republican Party was powerless to stop Donald Trump. Episode 2 explored the question, "What are institutions and why are they important?" Episode 3 looked at ways in which institutions can be harmful. This 4th episode is the first of a few that will look closely at the specific institution of political parties.

Opening Clip: From The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education

Opening Music: "Power" by Kanye West

Books/Articles by Jonathan Rauch

• "Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought"
• "Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America"
• "Denial: My 25 Years Without a Soul"
• "Political Realism: How Hacks, Machines, Big Money, and Back-Room Deals Can Strengthen American Democracy"
• "How American Politics Went Insane," The Atlantic
• "More Professionalism, Less Populism: Why Voting Makes Us Stupid and What To Do About It"

Other books or articles mentioned:

• "The Futility of Nostalgia and the Romanticism of the New Political Realists: Why Praising the 19th Century Political Machine Won't Solve the 21st Century's Problems" - by Thomas Mann and EJ Dionne
• "Amusing Ourselves to Death" by Neil Postman
• "How We Got Here: The 70's: The Decade that Brought You Modern Life (For Better or Worse)" by David Frum

Closing Music: "Rita" by Madeline Kenney

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Jemar Tisby is one of the more compelling figures I am aware of when it comes to race and Christianity in America. He is the president of the Reformed African American Network, and is obtaining a PhD in the history of race and religion at the University of Mississippi. Jemar is on a "journey to figure out how … social justice and historic Christian faith connect: how faith catalyzes justice." And while he believes his faith identity transcends skin color, he rejects the idea that white and black Christians -- in particular -- should avoid or bypass the hard conversations that need to take place about racial justice and white supremacy in America today. I wanted to get his take on institutions early on in this podcast to help us think critically about the topic. We may need to regain an appreciation for the good institutions can do, but we need to remain clear-eyed about the injustice that can also be perpetrated through them as well.

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Yuval Levin, one of the most plugged in, influential conservative intellectuals in the country, joins me to talk about how modern Americans often think of institutions as platforms for self-promotion rather than molds that form us "into human beings who are capable of being free men and women, who will choose to do the right thing, generally speaking, and so can be left free to choose, and don't have to be coerced into being responsible."

President Trump, Levin says, is a vivid example of someone who views institutions this way, and as a result, has hindered his ability to be successful. Trump has behaved not as a president would, but as a "performance artist," Levin says.

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In this inaugural, introductory episode, I tell the story of standing on the floor of the Republican convention in Cleveland as the GOP squashed an anti-Trump rebellion. It caused me to start thinking about the role of institutions like political parties. I explain why this podcast exists, how I'm going to structure it, and how I got interested in the topic. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis recently said that the biggest threat to the country is not ISIS or Russia or terrorism, but "the lack of political unity in America." The disunity we are now experiencing is increasing the massive distrust of institutions that in many ways is what brought us to this point. The question is, where do we go from here? We can't go back in time, but what lessons does our history hold for us?

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