







American elections are for sale. It wasn’t always this way.
Cambridge Analytica and the end of elections
The latest Cambridge Analytica leaks show just how compromised voting - one of the pillars of democracy - has become.

How Elon Musk and the Tech Billionaires Hijacked the State and Our Minds
Historian Quinn Slobodian tells Byline Times that Elon Musk's rise tells a deeper story—of fortunes built on state power, and a new politics where humans are treated less as citizens than as systems to be optimised

How Media – Namely News, Ads and Social Posts – Can Shape an Election
How Media – Namely News, Ads and Social Posts – Can Shape an Election

Donate to the candidates on the front lines of the fight against MAGA gerrymandering
These are Democratic state candidates in *extremely* close races
Democracy Needs Public Media with Victor Pickard
Victor Pickard returns to Money on the Left six years after his first appearance on the show to discuss the state of the U.S. media system under Trump 2.0. Pickard is C. Edwin Baker Profe…

Shopify CEO endorses idea to give more votes to wealthy Canadians | CBC News
The billionaire CEO of one of Canada's largest companies has come under fire for endorsing stripping voting rights from some and giving more votes to the ultra wealthy. Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke replied positively to a post on X suggesting a system of "weighted voting proportional to the amount of income tax you pay," from no votes for people who don't pay income tax to five votes for anyone paying $500,000 or more.

The Oligarchs' Coup Against the Free Press Is Happening Now
The American information space is not merely changing; it is undergoing a hostile takeover. It is a deliberate, coordinated campaign by a new class of oligarchs out of Silicon Valley that includes Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Larry Ellison, and Mark Zuckerberg acting in concert with a Trump-led authoritarian political project.


Elon Musk likely broke the law by giving voters $1 million, Wisconsin board says | CNN Politics
Billionaire Elon Musk likely broke Wisconsin law when he handed out $1 million checks to voters in the 2025 state Supreme Court election, a bipartisan panel has found.


The Dispersion of Power: A Critical Realist Theory of Democracy
Abstract The Dispersion of Power is an urgent call to rethink centuries of conventional wisdom about what democracy is, why it matters, and how to make it better. Drawing from history, social science, psychology, and critical theory, it explains why elections do not and cannot realize the classic ideal of popular rule, and why prevailing strategies of democratic reform often make things worse. Instead, Bagg argues, we should see democracy as a way of protecting public power from capture—an alternative vision that is at once more realistic and more inspiring. Despite their many shortcomings, real-world elections do prevent the most extreme forms of tyranny, and are therefore indispensable. In dealing with the vast inequalities that remain, however, we cannot rely on standard solutions such as electoral reform, direct democracy, deliberation, and participatory governance. Instead, Bagg shows, protecting and enriching democracy requires addressing underlying inequalities of power directly. In part, this entails substantive policies attacking the advantages of wealthy elites. Even more crucially, deepening democracy requires the organization of oppositional, countervailing power among ordinary people. Neither task is easy, but historical precedents exist in both cases—and if democracy is to survive contemporary crises, leaders and citizens alike must find ways to revive and reinvent these essential democratic practices for the twenty-first century.

Corporate Bungling And Political Scandal Abound In Jesse Eisinger's New Book
Why don't crooked corporate CEO's go to jail anymore? Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jesse Eisinger uncovers culture of cowardice, incompetence, and corruption in both government and finance.

The Dangerous Myth of 'Taxpayer Money'
Since 2007, Jezebel has been the Internet's most treasured source for everything celebrities, sex, and politics...with teeth.

Chris Hayes on the attention economy
A conversation about how attention was commodified, why it's so easy to steal, where industry is looking for new supplies, and whether democracy can survive this.

The political economy of billionaire derangement
The passions are devouring the interests

Tech Influence Watch
Tracking cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence industry influence on 2026 elections in the United States.
