Manufacturing Dissent Since 1996
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On power, representation and the politics of disenfranchisement.

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What matters is that we have the instruments at our disposal to exercise the sovereignty of the people's will. And of course the history of America is about this eternal struggle over defining who 'the people' are. A part of that takes place in the ballot box, but most of it doesn't. The ballot is the manifestation of a social consensus and in some ways it's a lie we all tell ourselves. It's a fiction that we're all represented by the government.

Journalist Michelle Chen explores the reality for millions of Americans who never had a vote in the presidential election - from those stripped of the right by the legal system, to immigrants who labor beyond the limits of representation - and examines the intersection of political power and democracy around (and beyond) the voting booth.

Michelle wrote the article For Millions, the Election was Always Lost for Dissent.

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Guest

Michelle Chen

Michelle Chen is a contributing editor at In These Times, a blogger at The Nation, an associate editor at CultureStrike and co-host of Dissent's Belabored podcast.

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