Tracing the money, the ideological purges, the strategic debates, and the court battles: A visual deep-dive into the data of 2025 and charting an empirical roadmap for a more resilient democracy.
The Founders didn’t create a democracy—they built a constitutional republic, where representatives are supposed to be limited by law and the Constitution to protect individual rights. Their whole point was to stop majority rule from trampling liberty. Today, that vision is gone: elections often decide everything, rights are ignored or stretched, and the careful balance they designed has collapsed into a system that looks more like a regular democracy than the republic they fought to create.
Good analysis. But nothing is going to change until the root cause is identified. I believe that root cause is the Republican-appointed members of the Supreme Court. They are overwhelmingly likely to nullify any legislative reforms, regardless of constitutionality. Even if such reforms were passed by legislators elected in 2026 (a real stretch of the imagination), even if such legislation were to survive the inevitable Trump veto (very, very unlikely), the Supreme Court would void it (almost a certainty). Only (peaceful) solution - impeach and convict Trump. THEN impeach and convict all but 3 members of the Supreme Court (you know which). Then and only then pass legislation to ensure “Never Again”. Crazy radical - sure. But less so than violent revolution.
OMG what a fantastic post, best I've read this year. Thank you so much and keep up the great work. I have gotten SO MANY fundraising texts from "progressive" causes and have not contributed out of suspicion that they were not legit. This piece confirms my suspicions!
This may seem trivial or tangential, but what drives much/most of this fundraising IMO is the absence of a text-spam filter in the Apple Messages app on iphone (and Mac).
(There are byzantine technical ways to install spam-text blockers on iphone, but they don't work very well and create multiple annoyances.)
Android phones do have quality text-spam filters. (Likewise, of course, most or all email clients; gmail's spam filter rocks.) So it's definitely do-able.
Power-lobbying Apple might result in a key vaccine for this diseased ecosystem?
I truly wonder why the Mothership story did not become one of the major political news stories of 2025.
We want our $80 trillion back!!*Tax the bloated rich and restore the money we earned and were cheated of. 45 years of thievery is enough.
See Heather Cox Richardson 12/20 for citation to RAND study.
As Anat Shenker says, give the choir something to sing about. Make people excited to vote for you.
Excellent analysis. Very useful data.
The Founders didn’t create a democracy—they built a constitutional republic, where representatives are supposed to be limited by law and the Constitution to protect individual rights. Their whole point was to stop majority rule from trampling liberty. Today, that vision is gone: elections often decide everything, rights are ignored or stretched, and the careful balance they designed has collapsed into a system that looks more like a regular democracy than the republic they fought to create.
This summary is excellent and makes me want to read the years worth of essays!
Turnout appears to be THE factor in future elections, which is common for heavily polarized nations like the US.
Great piece. As a data nerd, I am grateful for your hard work!
Your piece on the moderation debate is incredible. Thank you for your work throughout the year!
The rot is so deep, and watching Hakeem Jeffries cover for Henry Cuellar’s rampant corruption makes me doubt Democrats will ever get it together.
Good analysis. But nothing is going to change until the root cause is identified. I believe that root cause is the Republican-appointed members of the Supreme Court. They are overwhelmingly likely to nullify any legislative reforms, regardless of constitutionality. Even if such reforms were passed by legislators elected in 2026 (a real stretch of the imagination), even if such legislation were to survive the inevitable Trump veto (very, very unlikely), the Supreme Court would void it (almost a certainty). Only (peaceful) solution - impeach and convict Trump. THEN impeach and convict all but 3 members of the Supreme Court (you know which). Then and only then pass legislation to ensure “Never Again”. Crazy radical - sure. But less so than violent revolution.
I think it’s called EXTRACTION.
OMG what a fantastic post, best I've read this year. Thank you so much and keep up the great work. I have gotten SO MANY fundraising texts from "progressive" causes and have not contributed out of suspicion that they were not legit. This piece confirms my suspicions!
This may seem trivial or tangential, but what drives much/most of this fundraising IMO is the absence of a text-spam filter in the Apple Messages app on iphone (and Mac).
(There are byzantine technical ways to install spam-text blockers on iphone, but they don't work very well and create multiple annoyances.)
Android phones do have quality text-spam filters. (Likewise, of course, most or all email clients; gmail's spam filter rocks.) So it's definitely do-able.
Power-lobbying Apple might result in a key vaccine for this diseased ecosystem?
Thanks for listening to my hobby-horse.
As Anat Shenker says, give the choir something to sing about. Make people excited to vote for you.
The Marginal Utility of Billionaires
A fictional antidote to plutocracy:
https://aworldeofwordes.substack.com/p/z-e-i-t-g-e-i-s-t?r=5d7dmx