Navigating Political Pragmatism

Why the Democrats’ electoral strategy of “hire consultants to tell you which positions poll well enough to take” has run its course—and where they should look to start rebuilding.

Guest: Ben Mathis-Lilley, Slate senior writer and author of “How Strategist Brain Took Over the Democratic Party”.

Cited in this episode: 

The Hollow Parties: The Many Pasts and Disordered Present of American Party Politics (Daniel Schlozman and Sam Rosenfeld)

Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (Robert D. Putnam)

The Unaccountability Machine: Why Big Systems Make Terrible Decisions—And How the World Lost Its Mind (Dan Davies)

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Podcast production by Ethan Oberman, Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.

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