A 48-minute demolition of the democratic system as we know it

I distinctly remember the first unit of my AP U.S. history class in sophomore year of high school. We learned about the concept of historiography, a means of analyzing how history is written and recorded. It was the first time I'd ever considered that history inevitably was biased depending on who was writing it – it could not exist as an objective form of fact, as those who record it are not objective observers.

Now, after many a history class in college, the idea of revising history and reconsidering it in new contexts is important to me. History is not simply the past, but a living, breathing work of recollection, and one of that must constantly be revisited, both armed with, and in search of, new information.

It was with this love for history that I chose to listen to Malcolm Gladwell's podcast, Revisionist History. I chose a shorter segment, entitled The Powerball Revolution, a theoretical challenge of our democratic system through analysis of Bolivian student government elections.

It was a fascinating listen, telling us all about revolutionary and Democracy in Practice co-founder Adam Cronkright's proposed election system – a lottery. Though seemingly impossible and unpalatable at first glance, a deep dive into his work on student council elections in Bolivian schools reveals that a lottery proves to have far more integrity, and far better results, over the current candidate campaign process. Gladwell posed this alternative practice to the student council of a prestigious boarding school in New Jersey, The Lawrenceville School, and was surprised to see how quickly they were brought on board, and how dissatisfied they were with the current, standard procedure, despite having been the winners of said procedure.

The lottery, they argued, allowed for candidates across all disciplines to have a chance, allowing the council (or, on a grander scale, the government) to represent the interests of people across the gamut. This system also means that one candidate – the performer – is not valued over all others, as effective leadership and fulfillment of their roles is reliant on many other skills besides performance.

In a cool 48 minutes, Gladwell was able to craft an interesting a thought-provoking story. The podcast, narrated by Gladwell himself, featured interviews with Cronkright, Deputy Director of Extramural Research at the National Institute of Health Dr. Michael Lauer, and the class president and other student council members of The Lawrenceville School. These interviews were peppered in amongst narratives and background information provided by Gladwell. The podcast even featured environmental recordings in the New Jersey classroom, which captured the ambient sound that made listeners feel as though they too were debating Cronkright's democratic lottery alongside Lawrenceville students. There were also little musical interludes that signaled the transition from one segment to the next.

Content-wise, the podcast lived up. As a staunch critic of our current electoral system and a nut for political science, this intellectual analysis of its efficacy checked every box for me. However, the format proved to be a bit tricky for me.

I've never been a huge fan of podcasts. As they've become more popular over recent years, I've tried to get into them, listening to those recommended to me by friends and professors. However, even when the topics interest me, I find it difficult to focus on them, distracted by other things around me. It's the same reason I gave up on audiobooks a long time ago, preferring instead the physical and visual grounding points that books provide. The audible experience has never been quite enough for me.

This try garnered no new results. As interesting as The Powerball Revolution proved to be, I still found myself wishing that there was another component on which I could focus my attention. Though Gladwell did a great job providing a diverse audio experience, with supporting music, new but recognizable voices, and situational soundtracks that made me feel a part of the action, I still could feel myself working very hard to remain on task.

For these reasons, I would've preferred to consume this piece as a video, allowing me to view each contributor as they spoke, and, most importantly, giving me a visual point on which I could affix my gaze. That being said, my analysis is inevitably biased by my own difficulties with podcasts, and cannot be attributed to Gladwell's democratic masterpiece.

All in all, I highly recommend Gladwell's Revisionist History, and especially The Powerball Revolution if this year's upcoming election has you frustrated with our current system. Whether you're a fan of podcasts or not, you may find yourself gravitating toward democratic lotteries over democratic debates more quickly than you think.