Fareed Zakaria

Again, thinking about this world America built, if you want a kind of a wonderful biographical lens into it, Walter Isaacson and Evan Thomas wrote a book called The Wise Men. And it was a story of six people who were instrumental in building the post-World War II American order. So for all those of you who are fans of Walter Isaacson, this was actually his very first biography.

He wrote it with one of his closest friends, Evan Thomas. They were both editors at Time. It's a wonderful read. My review of that book for an obscure publication called The American Scholar is my first published piece in the world. So I have a particular affection for it.

He wrote it with one of his closest friends, Evan Thomas. They were both editors at Time. It's a wonderful read. My review of that book for an obscure publication called The American Scholar is my first published piece in the world. So I have a particular affection for it.

Good to be here, Ezra. Thank you.

Good to be here, Ezra. Thank you.

Fundamentally, we have done something very strange to our political parties. We took away their primary function. The primary function of every political party is to choose a candidate. The primary system means that the 10% that is most extreme, most engaged in each party chooses the candidate. That, by the way, is a unique system. No other advanced democracy in the world does it this way.

Fundamentally, we have done something very strange to our political parties. We took away their primary function. The primary function of every political party is to choose a candidate. The primary system means that the 10% that is most extreme, most engaged in each party chooses the candidate. That, by the way, is a unique system. No other advanced democracy in the world does it this way.

Every other democracy, the party, through some internal means, chooses the candidate and then presents it to you for the election. And what does that mean? That means that the party elders, party officials, senior party members lose power, and party activists, extremists, the people on Twitter, the people who go to primaries, they gain power.

Every other democracy, the party, through some internal means, chooses the candidate and then presents it to you for the election. And what does that mean? That means that the party elders, party officials, senior party members lose power, and party activists, extremists, the people on Twitter, the people who go to primaries, they gain power.

The people I mentioned, their party outlets tend to be mainstream. They're politicians. They've been elected by broad constituencies. They represent, in a sense, the center of the political spectrum. The people who vote in primaries tend to represent the extreme. So it's been a very bad trade that we've made.

The people I mentioned, their party outlets tend to be mainstream. They're politicians. They've been elected by broad constituencies. They represent, in a sense, the center of the political spectrum. The people who vote in primaries tend to represent the extreme. So it's been a very bad trade that we've made.

And it means that the party is really now a shell, as you say, within which political entrepreneurs act. And if you can raise the money and you can gain attention, you become important.

And it means that the party is really now a shell, as you say, within which political entrepreneurs act. And if you can raise the money and you can gain attention, you become important.