"It is not enough…to devise an agenda around a hypothetical imperial Congress. It is also necessary to rebuild the institution, enhance its esteem and transform the public’s expectations of the sources of political leadership." @jamellebouie.net brilliant as always www.nytimes.com/2026/03/21/o... 1/

Congress' dysfunction is endogenous to its structure in the context of a nationalized political and media environment. I think fixing Congress means reforming that structure. 2/

A minimal version of this looks like the kind of reforms @leedrutman.bsky.social proposes to "break the two party doom loop", some form of proportional representation in the House, hopefully approval voting for Senators. 3/

More out-there, but more deeply enfranchising, approaches might include a massively larger House of Representatives, whose deliberations are made practical by technical means. See e.g. me www.interfluidity.com/v2/9069.html (I have some other weird ideas I hope to write up soon.) /fin

i really feel for the kids on transports now towards the middle east. it’s one thing to be deployed — that’s part of the job, what you signed up for. 1/

but it’s another thing, an unexpected thing, to be deployed under circumstances of manifest improvisation and incompetence and perhaps indifference to your welfare. 2/

say what you will about the US military, but until recently you could take for granted operational competence and and a posture of protectiveness toward military lives. /fin

americans should not have elected trump. 1/

even most of those opposed to him were complicit in the sense they could have done more to persuade, or raise the social costs of supporting trump. 2/

yet punishing or holding to account arbitrary americans for not having done more to prevent trump’s election would serve neither a practical nor moral purpose, and would amount to violation of the dignity and independence we accord to individuals in liberal societies. /fin