Three companies dominate the U.S. voting-maching industry. By Anders Melin and Reade Pickert.

Has American democracy been hijacked by the passions of its people, now a dangerous and untamable majority undermining the republic? In a new issue of the Atlantic, Jeffrey Rosen, head of the National Constitution Center, says yes. “[James] Madison’s worst fears of mob rule have been realized—and the cooling mechanisms he designed to slow down the formation of impetuous majorities have broken.”

Why so many commentators share an overly grim view of America’s fate. By Timothy Shenk.

Here’s the $64,000 question for our time: how did digital technologies go from being instruments for spreading democracy to tools for undermining it? Or, to put it a different way, how did social media go from empowering free speech to becoming a cornerstone of authoritarian power?

A central pillar of President Trump’s politics is a sustained assault on the free press. Journalists are not classified as fellow Americans, but rather “the enemy of the people.”

The United States is full of personally decent and caring, often highly intelligent people mired in political ignorance and delusion. By Paul Street.

President Donald Trump is a symptom of a much larger problem. New research suggests that Trump's supporters are so motivated by racism and bigotry that they may be willing to overturn American democracy so that white right-wing Christians like themselves can maintain continued power over our society.

The UK faces a "democratic crisis" with voters being targeted with "pernicious views" and data being manipulated, a parliamentary committee is set to warn. The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee has been investigating disinformation and fake news following the Cambridge Analytica data scandal. In its first report, MPs will suggest social media companies should face tougher regulation or a new tax.

A political theorist’s provocative idea for how to fix democracy. By Sean Illing.

Any Russian interference is only a small part of the “election meddling” we should care about… By Lyle Jeremy Rubin.

His enemies paint him as all-powerful, but the billionaire philanthropist believes that his political legacy has never been in greater jeopardy.

When speaking with Salon about his famous “Crisis of Confidence” speech, former President Jimmy Carter had this observation about America’s current commander-in-chief, Donald Trump. “I think that under Trump the government is worse than it has been before,” Carter explained by email. “This is the first time I remember when the truth is ignored, allies are deliberately aggravated, China, Europe, Mexico and Canada are hurt economically and have to hurt us in response, Americans see the future worse than the present, and immigrants are treated cruelly.”

An always-on assessment platform for politicians and their decisions — utilizing blockchain and AI. ‘Professional politicians’ are usually optimized to play the ‘media game’ and often, they only focus on manipulating the public opinion rather than delivering value according to their commitments and official plans.

Cook has publicly lauded the student survivors of the Parkland High School shooting for fighting to make schools safer. Nonetheless, he defended Apple’s decision to make the NRA’s TV channel available for users to download. He said airing alternate views, including those he finds “distasteful,” is important for public discourse. “Public discourse is an important part of democracy,” Cook said in an interview airing tonight on MSNBC and Vox Media’s Recode show Revolution: Apple Changing the World. “Democracy without discourse is not a democracy.”

Computers could be the key to resolving partisan fights over congressional boundaries. By Eric Boehm.

"Before I can talk about Doug Mack’s travelogue-cum-history of America’s colonies, 'The Not-Quite States of America,' I’m going to take a quick detour to talk about the Red Sox..." By K.D. Atherton.

It’s not just the US which has had its “Howard Beale moment.” By Marshall Auerback.

Authoritarians are on the rise, and electorates are seduced by extremes. To fight back, mainstream politicians need to grasp the causes of popular discontent and rebuild democracy’s moral foundations. By Yascha Mounk.

Former President Barack Obama made some revealing comments about the state of political discourse in the US, suggesting last week that tech giants like Facebook and Google were compounding problems. His remarks were captured in an off-the-record speech at a sports conference at MIT. Audio from the presentation was first reported by Reason, a libertarian-leaning publication.

Why the United States Needs a Whole New Operating System. By Thomas Linzey.