Can we do better than partisan primaries?

Maybe not — but we can improve them

It’s been incredibly hot this week in DC, which I personally hate. As a good climate change contrarian, I am aware that more Americans freeze to death than die from extreme heat, so higher average temperatures will probably save lives on net in the USA (the situation is different in tropical countries, of course). But I have to recommend this paper from Bo Yin et. al. showing that extreme heat impairs cognitive function.

This is 100 percent how I feel. Every time I step outside in the summer, I need an hour for my mind to recover.

Aside from time, my other personal cure for super-heat weeks in DC is the song “Aerobicide” off Kathleen Hanna’s 1998 solo album Julie Ruin, which features the lyric “hot hot summer in hell” over and over again. Due to the mysteries of intellectual property law, this album is not available on Spotify or Apple Music, but this specific song appeared on the soundtrack of the 2015 movie “The Punk Singer” and is available in that form. Streaming music is obviously great compared to the old days, but these little gaps are annoying.

Other recommendations:

• Anne Helen Petersen on bad advice.

• Dan Drezner on America’s rogue Supreme Court.

• The many latrines of the New Deal.

• Jeremiah Johnson in praise of Mr Beast.

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A few bits of good news amidst all the anxiety this week: New York City is finally getting garbage cans, Amtrak is rolling out some improved service in the northeast, and the data on the 2024 crime drop is getting clearer than ever. Plus the IRS recovered $1 billion from tax cheats.

Our comment of the week is from srynerson on Iberian languor:

“To an extent, all the people standing around with nothing to do is part of the charm of Portugal.”

Your comment here immediately made me think of this passage from Jose Ortega y Gasset's book, “The Revolt of the Masses” talking about 1920s Spain:

One of the things that most delight travelers in Spain is that if they ask someone in the street where such a building or square is, the man asked will often turn aside from his own path and generously sacrifice himself to the stranger, conducting him to the point he is interested in. I am not going to deny that there may be in this disposition of the worthy Spaniard some element of generosity, and I rejoice that the foreigner so interprets his conduct. But I have never, when hearing or reading of this, been able to repress a suspicion: “Was my countryman, when thus questioned, really going anywhere?” Because it might very well be, in many cases, that the Spaniard is going nowhere, has no purpose or mission, but rather goes out into life to see if others’ lives can fill his own a little. In many instances I know quite well that my countrymen go out to the street to see if they will come across some stranger to accompany on his way.

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Our winning question this week is from Liam: Is there a realistic path to eliminating partisan primaries? Lots of evidence suggests they empower extremists, discourage compromise, hollow out the parties — bad all around. Plus, they’re almost unique to the US. So do you think there’s a way to get rid of them?

I think you have to be careful here on two dimensions.