It is often said that his­to­ry is writ­ten by the win­ners. You might also say that pop­u­lar his­to­ry is writ­ten by Hol­ly­wood, or Face­book, or what­ev­er polit­i­cal enclave you are liv­ing in .. Does any of this mat­ter?

Pol­i­tics is like med­i­cine: some­times use­ful, even nec­es­sary, in small amounts, but fatal if tak­en in an over­dose. Politi­cians can be a use­ful species but are prone to going fer­al. Democ­ra­cies often elect either medi­oc­ri­ties or con­fi­dence trick­sters because large num­bers of elec­tors share sim­i­lar qual­i­ties. In prac­ti­cal terms, is there a bet­ter way to man­age nation­al affairs?