>Commons sway votes, which sway policy in a democracy.
Evidence suggests otherwise[1]. In the US (and really anywhere else) public policy is elite driven, and if anything public discourse and public opinion is amorphous and shifts as a response to whatever is passed down by institutions, be that corporate, academia, the media or what have you.
This very intuitively is visible in the 'topic of the day/week/month' nature of American discourse where everyone seemingly synchronized goes into a frenzy only to move on to the next thing a while later.
The 'commons' are a giant entertainment machine where people who have practically zero influence on anything meaningful can spent their time, that's about it.
Evidence suggests otherwise[1]. In the US (and really anywhere else) public policy is elite driven, and if anything public discourse and public opinion is amorphous and shifts as a response to whatever is passed down by institutions, be that corporate, academia, the media or what have you.
This very intuitively is visible in the 'topic of the day/week/month' nature of American discourse where everyone seemingly synchronized goes into a frenzy only to move on to the next thing a while later.
The 'commons' are a giant entertainment machine where people who have practically zero influence on anything meaningful can spent their time, that's about it.
[1]https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-poli...