One myth that's helping destroy our democracy:

The idea that "public opinion" is something that exists independently of elite opinion, a mysterious collective force with deep economic and social precursors, knowable only through polls, but guiding all political outcomes.

The relationship between "public opinion" and political and social elites is perceived as the relationship between a pond and bugs skimming over the surface of the pond. The pond affects the bugs but is unaffected by them.

But that's totally wrong.

Society isn't made up of some mystical volk around which we all maneuver. It's a bunch of social links and hierarchies, and our political and social elites are perched at the top of them. They're not irrelevant to the public or at its mercy; they're the most powerful part of it.

Some people (like partisans) are tightly connected to elites through social hierarchies; elite opinion guides their views very closely and quickly. Other people (non-political, non-voter types) are only loosely connected. Their views are impacted slowly and indirectly.

But ultimately it's our elites, especially in politics and media, who guide the thing we think of "public opinion." In fact, I'd argue that "public opinion" doesn't even really exist as a single object: it's just all these different hierarchies and networks averaged together.

What's happened - especially since the shock of the 2016 election - is that a lot of our elites have lost sight of their role in this system. They see themselves as powerless against the public masses, with which they can plead, but over which they have little real influence.

The predictable result has been a numbed paralysis - people with incredible power to both make decisions and influence the views of others, instead constantly looking over their shoulder at opinion polls, and ultimately deciding to keep quiet or take no stand.

The exception to this, of course, has been the GOP, which has been convinced of the opposite: that the mystical spirit of the American volk is ON ITS SIDE, investing it with the authority to do pretty much whatever it wants.

Combine that with the unwillingness of other elites to challenge the GOP directly and proportionately - because, after all, they believe they're powerless anyway - and you've set the stage for a cult-like spiral of permanent radicalization.

I have never even heard of this book, but the cover appears to have brilliantly crystallized the entire thread above into a single illustration. https://twitter.com/ObservatoireUS/status/1308463598147117057