2018
October
17
Wednesday

Monitor Daily Podcast

October 17, 2018
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Mark Sappenfield
Senior global correspondent

“What’s wrong with democracy?” is a common question these days. We’ve asked it ourselves. No matter your political bent, there’s a fear that politics has become so polarized that democracy might be broken.

Two Stanford University professors, however, have a different take: Perhaps democracy is doing exactly what is needed. In a piece for National Affairs, David Brady and Bruce Cain note how different the America of today is from the America of 30 years ago. Back then, American voters leaned strongly Democratic; now they’re split fairly evenly among Democrats, Republicans, and independents.

Equally important, the parties of today are a hot mess. What’s the Republican position on trade? The Democratic position on free college tuition? On an array of issues, the two parties have no unified idea who they are.

American voters have been radically reshaped by trends of globalization, immigration, religion, and race. The parties are only now starting to catch up and evolve. And historically, when America’s parties have been in flux, the country goes through a period of four-wheel-drive politics, the authors say.   

“Democracies cannot and should not resist change,” they add. “They need to enable it to proceed freely and fairly. That’s what our party coalitions do. And it seems to be what they are doing now, in their usual messy and uneasy ways.”

Now to our five stories for your Wednesday.


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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

A deeper look

Jayme Gershen/Special to the Christian Science Monitor
Hannah Klein and William Joel Bravo go door to door last month in South Miami Heights for the organization NextGen America, speaking with homeowners about Democratic candidates. The state’s electorate is becoming younger and, like the nation, more diverse.
Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe/Getty Images/File
Aiyauna Terry, a teacher at Ellis Memorial, reads to preschoolers at a Jumpstart Read for the Record event at the Boston Public Library in Boston in 2016.

Books


The Monitor's View

AP
An official is seen at the Saudi Arabia's Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, scene of journalist Jamal Khashoggi's alleged torture and slaying.

A Christian Science Perspective

About this feature

A message of love

Gerald Herbert/AP
Roxie Cline picks up items Oct. 17 near what remains of her home in the aftermath of hurricane Michael in Mexico Beach, Fla. Recovery efforts in the Florida Panhandle have been slow.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Jacob Turcotte and Karen Norris. )

A look ahead

Thanks again for being here. Come back tomorrow. Jessica Mendoza will be reporting from Michigan on a citizens’ bid to take a decisive role in drawing voting district lines.

Also, a correction: Our story on Hot Springs National Park, which appeared in the Friday, Oct. 12 edition, misstated the temperature at which the water emerges from the ground there. It is 143 degrees F.

More issues

2018
October
17
Wednesday
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