Ed Helms

If it allows me to go hella-skiing, then yeah, I'm hella on board.

OK, so we've established that public policy, as as it is generated by Congress, has a statistically nonexistent connection to the desires of the public. Why? What what are the primary what is sort of the underpinning reasons for that? Yeah, I mean, the simplest answer is follow the money.

OK, so we've established that public policy, as as it is generated by Congress, has a statistically nonexistent connection to the desires of the public. Why? What what are the primary what is sort of the underpinning reasons for that? Yeah, I mean, the simplest answer is follow the money.

Right. It's corrupt and legal. Right. It's corrupt and baked into the system that we have.

Right. It's corrupt and legal. Right. It's corrupt and baked into the system that we have.

And it feels like it's such a cliche to say, like, it's the system. We're going to put the system on trial. But that kind of is the deal. Like, that's exactly what we're dealing with, with our political system right now.

And it feels like it's such a cliche to say, like, it's the system. We're going to put the system on trial. But that kind of is the deal. Like, that's exactly what we're dealing with, with our political system right now.

Yeah, most of the two of us that are here do think it's our job to change that system. There are a lot of reasons that we feel polarized as a country right now. And, you know, we can point to the obvious wedge issues. We can point to the information silos, the social media and all of these things. And those are very real. And there are cable news, which is very corporate and cynical.

Yeah, most of the two of us that are here do think it's our job to change that system. There are a lot of reasons that we feel polarized as a country right now. And, you know, we can point to the obvious wedge issues. We can point to the information silos, the social media and all of these things. And those are very real. And there are cable news, which is very corporate and cynical.

And these are these are very real factors. Right. But there are also a number of structural factors that are wedging us, things built into the political system engineered to polarize us even further. And I wonder if you can talk a little bit more about those more structural issues. Yeah, sure.

And these are these are very real factors. Right. But there are also a number of structural factors that are wedging us, things built into the political system engineered to polarize us even further. And I wonder if you can talk a little bit more about those more structural issues. Yeah, sure.

You said much more competitive. What are the numbers on how gerrymandering has affected the competitiveness of congressional elections?

You said much more competitive. What are the numbers on how gerrymandering has affected the competitiveness of congressional elections?

In the primaries- I just wanna put an exclamation point on that, because it still blows my mind. Over 80% of congressional elections are non-competitive. And what that means fundamentally is that they aren't really elections. Like they're not – they're just kind of a rubber stamping ritual, a process, a kind of like a quaint nod to the past. But it isn't – it's not an actual election. Right.

In the primaries- I just wanna put an exclamation point on that, because it still blows my mind. Over 80% of congressional elections are non-competitive. And what that means fundamentally is that they aren't really elections. Like they're not – they're just kind of a rubber stamping ritual, a process, a kind of like a quaint nod to the past. But it isn't – it's not an actual election. Right.

We're doing the song and dance. We're doing the song and dance of putting a Republican and a Democrat against each other. But in 80 percent of districts, one will always win. Yeah.

We're doing the song and dance. We're doing the song and dance of putting a Republican and a Democrat against each other. But in 80 percent of districts, one will always win. Yeah.

And we know that generally the voters that participate in primaries are the most – sort of extreme voters of that group. Yeah, it's the party base, right?

And we know that generally the voters that participate in primaries are the most – sort of extreme voters of that group. Yeah, it's the party base, right?

And this is why we see so many politicians emerge that everyone's kind of shaking their heads like, how did this guy get nominated? How did this lady get there? Like, that seems crazy. Well, it's because like the most hardcore fervent Partisans are the ones nominating those people. So you brought up before this sort of question about the media environment.