TODAY’S HYPERDEMOCRACY HAD NOBLE BEGINNINGS. Jefferson believed a well-informed electorate was necessary for the country’s survival. James Madison expressed a similar view: “A people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives.”21 The two were talking about more than just public familiarity with candidates’ position papers. To be vigilant citizens, Jefferson argued, voters had to study history in order to understand the corrupting influence of human weakness—like excessive ambition—that existed across time, so that they could be on the lookout for the
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