Episode 85: Are We Living Madison’s Nightmare?

Worries about mob rule have been around longer than our Constitution. Indeed, James Madison wrote about the problems of “factions” in what we’ve come to call the Federalist Papers. We like to think that our three branches of government with their checks and balances are impervious to the evils of faction. But today we may be living Madison’s nightmare. Join Antony Davies and James Harrigan as they discuss this and more on this week’s episode of Words and Numbers.

Show Notes

Controlling aging

Jeff Bezos donates $2 billion

What it feels like to be Jeff Bezos

Foolishness of the Week

Outlawing sitting and lying down

Topic of the Week: Political factions and mob rule

Madison’s warning about mob rule

Federalist 10

Federal debt as a fraction of GDP (1790 to 2050)

Join the conversation

Antony Davies on Twitter

James R. Harrigan on Twitter

Words & Numbers Backstage