1.0The New Atlantishttps://www.thenewatlantis.comBrianhttps://www.thenewatlantis.com/author/brianshimrich600338<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content"><a href="https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-virtual-stump">The Virtual Stump</a></blockquote> <script type='text/javascript'> <!--//--><![CDATA[//><!-- /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(d,l){"use strict";var e=!1,o=!1;if(l.querySelector)if(d.addEventListener)e=!0;if(d.wp=d.wp||{},!d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage)if(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if(t)if(t.secret||t.message||t.value)if(!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){var r,a,i,s,n,o=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),c=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]');for(r=0;r<c.length;r++)c[r].style.display="none";for(r=0;r<o.length;r++)if(a=o[r],e.source===a.contentWindow){if(a.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message){if(1e3<(i=parseInt(t.value,10)))i=1e3;else if(~~i<200)i=200;a.height=i}if("link"===t.message)if(s=l.createElement("a"),n=l.createElement("a"),s.href=a.getAttribute("src"),n.href=t.value,n.host===s.host)if(l.activeElement===a)d.top.location.href=t.value}}},e)d.addEventListener("message",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",t,!1),d.addEventListener("load",t,!1);function t(){if(!o){o=!0;var e,t,r,a,i=-1!==navigator.appVersion.indexOf("MSIE 10"),s=!!navigator.userAgent.match(/Trident.*rv:11\./),n=l.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content");for(t=0;t<n.length;t++){if(!(r=n[t]).getAttribute("data-secret"))a=Math.random().toString(36).substr(2,10),r.src+="#?secret="+a,r.setAttribute("data-secret",a);if(i||s)(e=r.cloneNode(!0)).removeAttribute("security"),r.parentNode.replaceChild(e,r)}}}}(window,document); //--><!]]> </script><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-virtual-stump/embed" width="600" height="338" title="“The Virtual Stump” — The New Atlantis" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe>As we move into autumn in a year divisible by four, we look ahead, quite naturally, to November’s presidential election. The conventions, the debates, the closely-watched polls, and all the other trappings of our quadrennial political circus are so familiar to us that we rarely pause to reflect on how profoundly they have all been shaped and changed by technology. With the rise of the primary election system, party conventions are now fully pseudo-events, with merely the vestiges of their proud democratic past. They have become, in the last two decades, tightly scripted and highly stage-managed shows, produced for the...https://www.thenewatlantis.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/social-share-default.png930488