This is an outstanding summary of a history that is widely familiar among political scientists but not much known anywhere else – a century of reforms intended to make government more “democratic” have profoundly undermined the functioning of our democracy in ways that played a major role in the ascension of Trump. Chief among them have been restrictions on the ability of political parties to conduct their own business as private organizations, and direct election of Senators, both of which removed important checks on the reduction of democracy to mere transient populist majoritarianism. Give it a read.