This wasn’t supposed to be a column about unemployment and political violence. I was supposed to be writing about the crisis of irreproducible results in science and the dangers of scientism and technocracy. But then I checked my Twitter timeline.

Cue the Emotional Con Game 2016™. This is not going to be an election about foreign policy or budget proposals or rational discussion. Look at me, unable to even write a column about the technocratic smart grid society and the future of humanity because the violence of this election cycle demands my attention.

This is an election that plays directly into the public’s existential dilemmas. ‘Who am I? What is my place in society? Will I have a future at all?‘ And smack dab in the middle of that existential crisis are two of the worst political candidates in living memory (and that’s saying something). And both sides see the potential victory of the other side as The End of the World As We Know It.

Join James for this week’s subscriber newsletter as he explores the connection between an economy in decline, a shrinking middle class, diminished expectations, and a long hot summer of political violence.

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