im sure academics mean something particular by it that i dont understand but its puzzling to me when they declare the absence of "mass politics" when the last year saw the largest protest movement in american history and the biggest voter turn out in 60 years

one response im getting to this is either power is totally ensconced in the bureaucracy and there is no sustained organized democratic mass parties, but the fact remains that mass movements and campaigns have recently affected elite opinion and the direction of government

yes obviously in ways that are complex and as much about deflection and avoidance as genuine engagement or acceptance of public will, but in that case...same as it ever was

this brings to mind the incoherence in the critique of woke liberalism, the substance of the claim aside no one can decide if its a deeply consequential shift in the manners and attitudes of the elite or something that's merely for appearances and means very little