@eyesquash no. i don’t think that’s right. institutions form the public not in the sense if brainwashing us, but in the way they structure out identities. the US two-party system, combined with the internet’s nationalization of politics, have reformed us into two wildly hostile tribes. 1/

@eyesquash if we had an electoral system that yielded multiple parties and encouraged flexible coalitions, we’d have a public no less authentic, no more brainwashed, but that would understand itself and participate in politics quite differently, with different results. 2/

@eyesquash we want a democratic system that shapes its public into something capable of deliberating and choosing well, of acting both legitimately (consent of the governed), but also wisely. how to build that is an institutional question, of the sort that the US Constitution was an early attempt. 3/

@eyesquash we are far from that ideal now, and yes it is more than dispiriting how difficult it is for publics to conduct politics not within institutions that have grown dysfunctional and deformed, but above and around them so we can change them and reform ourselves collectively. 4/

@eyesquash last week I would have said it’s hard but that’s the work. this week i am not sure whether to say that or concede defeat and try to find a less scary place for my kid to live. maybe the two aren’t mutually exclusive. /fin