The revolt of the public, as I envision the thing, is a technology-driven churning of new people and classes, a proliferation and confusion of message and noise, utopian hopes and nihilistic rage, globalization and disintegration, taking place in the unbearable personal proximity of the web and at a fatal distance from political power. Every

the new millennium it became apparent to anyone with eyes to

every authoritative

internet. Landline TV, restricted for years to one or two channels in a few developed

to the subject in a roundabout

under conditions of scarcity. They become authoritative. A century ago, a scholar wishing to study the topics

to participate in the great decisions of government. There was, Lippmann brooded, no “intrinsic moral and intellectual virtue to majority rule.” Lippmann’s disenchantment with democracy anticipated the mood of today’s elites. From the top, the public, and the swings of public opinion, appeared irrational and uninformed. The human material out of

and against approaches

question, these life-shaping