Sublime
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As long as less populated states lean the same way politically, those states can sway elections if the size of the House of Representatives is small. Increase the House size, and the effect goes away. This idea, called the House Size Effect, suggests that American elections are a function not only of popular will but also of the size of the House o
... See moreEthan Zuckerman • Mistrust: Why Losing Faith in Institutions Provides the Tools to Transform Them
A lie that makes a voter feel good is more effective than a hundred rational arguments.
Scott Adams • How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life
Senator Bob Dole, who’d hoped to snatch the presidential election from Bill Clinton, saw an irresistible wedge issue. He got Georgia Republican Bob Barr (thrice married) to introduce a “Defense of Marriage Act” in the US House. Barr declaimed it like a fire-and-brimstone sermon: “The very foundations of our society are in danger of being burned. Th
... See moreLillian Faderman • The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle
The industrial elites, I mean to say, have lashed their fate to that of the battered model in which they have thrived. Their political projects seek to restore distance rather than authority. Their hope is to silence the public, not persuade it. Hillary Clinton ran for president on a promise to keep the deplorables in their place. Angela Merkel cli
... See moreMartin Gurri • Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium
He is the living embodiment of the old maxim that if you say something often enough, people will believe it. That’s
Katy Tur • Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History
Clinton had announced plans to create a health care system that provided coverage to all Americans. It would be a monumental political undertaking. Over the prior six decades, universal health care had emerged as the white whale of the liberal movement—an elusive, tantalizing chance to achieve the New Deal’s final piece of unfinished business. Fran
... See moreLuke Mullins • The Wolves of K Street: The Secret History of How Big Money Took Over Big Government
child-centered arguments consistently score better with women than economic or more factually based messaging.
Dr. Frank Luntz • Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear
The technocrats represented a moral principle, however nonideological they wished to appear. That moral principle was the imperative toward efficiency in governance and all other spheres. It was therefore the expertise not of the plumber that was praised but of the manager, the professional, and the intellectual whose expertise was certified by the
... See moreGeorge Friedman • The Storm Before the Calm: America's Discord, the Coming Crisis of the 2020s, and the Triumph Beyond
sound bites are essential because they can actually change minds.