Read the full transcript here.

How do campaign and election dynamics affect the sorts of people that politicians court and the kinds of platforms they build? How well can we really know non-voters' preferences? What would your life be like if your most treasured belief turned out to be false? What are all the ramifications of voting against your own party? To what extent is "political capital" a real, legit thing? Do politicians actually manage to get anything useful done despite the constant flip-flopping of power? How can we expect non-experts to write robust regulations in fields that are extremely complicated? What percent of politicians exhibit higher-than-average levels of the Dark Triad traits? How does becoming a politician change one's personality? How accurate are Bradley Tusk's political personality types (the rare breed, the typical politician, the ideologue, the "I'm just happy to be here", and the corrupt politician)? How similar are state politics to federal politics?

Elizabeth Edwards-Appell is a former New Hampshire legislator who currently works as a political consultant. As a member of the effective altruism movement, her work focuses on policy change to reduce catastrophic risks. She lives near Manchester with her wife, their cat, and their brand new baby daughter.

Staff

Spencer Greenberg — Host / Director
Josh Castle — Producer
Ryan Kessler — Audio Engineer
Uri Bram — Factotum
Janaisa Baril — Transcriptionist
Miles Kestran — Marketing

Music

Affiliates

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Trailer: The Paris Review presents "Personals," a new audio series