ABSTRACT
Democratic political systems are predicated on the assumption that the people are capable of ruling themselves either directly or by selecting office holders who are capable of governing in the name of the people. Equally dangerous would be populist candidates and presidents who sought to advance themselves solely by playing to the class interests of the multitude, ingratiating themselves with the public through folksy rhetoric, or with the ability to project empathy with the problems of the common man—'paying obsequious court to the people', as Hamilton put it. Both the Barack Obama and Trump campaigns, in different ways, reflected the dual impact of the new nomination process and the new media environment on the manner in which parties select their presidential candidates. And the peril of our democratic selection system is that the qualities of our presidential candidates and our presidents will, to an increasing degree, come to reflect this race to the bottom.
