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Megan Mattes

@meganmattes.bsky.social
201 followers 199 following 12 posts

PhD candidate at Simon Fraser University's Department of Political Science studying democratic innovations. meganmattes.ca

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Reposted by Megan Mattes
Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Soon we're going to enter a period when people will be looking for ways to fortify and improve democracy. One thing that needs to be on the agenda is this: ***Electoral democracy has built-in biases that prevent working-class people from holding office.*** www.bloomberg.com/features/202...
bloomberg.com
Why Working-Class Candidates Are Almost Never on the Ballot
Less than 1% of major-party candidates competing for a seat in the US Congress have a background in manual trades or service industries.
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Zack Taylor @bigcitypolitics.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
If you live in the City of Toronto and are interested in electoral geography, I've made you little app: zacktayloruwo.github.io/toronto-elec...
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Canada's National Observer @nationalobserver.com · 16/09/2026
With municipal elections coming up in several provinces this fall, what is actually on the line? A new starter pack.
nationalobserver.com
Starter Pack: Local Government
Municipalities are largely responsible for your health, safety and well-being.
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mattie lubchansky @mattielubchansky.com · 27/08/2026
elected democrats working themselves up into a dancing plague about a twitch streamer in possibly the most winnable environment for an opposition party in the history of the planet. beautiful stuff
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Rikki Dean @rikkidean.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
A nice surprise today. My book is now out! One week ahead of schedule! Thanks to the European Research Council you can even download it for free. Here's what the critics are saying... bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/democracy-pa...
bristoluniversitypress.co.uk
Democracy, Participation and Public Administration
Democracy, Participation and Public Administration - A Systems Approach; A novel democratic systems theory that puts public administration at the heart of democracy. The new approach is applied to the...
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Journal of Democracy @jodemocracy.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Democracy as a Universal Value
journalofdemocracy.org
Democracy as a Universal Value | Journal of Democracy
The recognition of democracy as a universally relevant system is a major revolution in thinking, and one of the main contributions of the twentieth century. While not yet universally practiced…
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Journal of Democracy @jodemocracy.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Why do ordinary people vote to return to office undemocratic incumbents? Survey experiments suggest that many voters are willing to put their partisan interests above democratic principles—a finding that may be key to understanding democratic backsliding. muse.jhu.edu/article...
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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Uh, yeah, so this is a few lines down the Niemöller poem
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Megan Mattes @meganmattes.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Baden-Württemberg's state agency for citizen participation helps municipalities design and fund citizens' assemblies. In my new piece in Policy Options (@policyoptions.irpp.org) I make the case for bringing this model to Canadian provinces. policyoptions.irpp.org/2026/08/fund...
policyoptions.irpp.org
Why provinces should fund municipal citizens’ assemblies
Provincial funding and shared expertise could help municipalities use citizens’ assemblies to rebuild local democracy across Canada today.
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Petter Törnberg @pettertornberg.com · 07/07/2026
‘Polarization’ has become the master concept for diagnosing our current democratic crisis. But this is not polarization. It is the radicalization of the political right. By misdiagnosing it, we risk becoming complicit in the crisis. 🧵 Just out in Perspectives on Politics doi.org/10.1017/S153...
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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Once you get a friend-enemy politics rolling—once mutual expectations are aligned around doing politics in that mode—enemies must & will be found, no matter how marginal, inoffensive, or defenseless. Their persecution will become the routine business of more and more serious political actors.
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Rory White @rorywh.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
My latest investigation is out. A well-known Canadian digital strategy firm has begun openly selling "surrogate online communities" of social media users to undisclosed clients. The users come for the viral content and are pushed up an "activation ladder." www.nationalobserver.com/2026/04/30/i...
nationalobserver.com
Car crashes, crime memes and hidden clients: How a PR firm farms Canadian users for political influence
A Canadian public relations firm has designed several so-called "surrogate online communities" that don't disclose their funders and are often used to generate public pressure for political ends.
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Michael McDonald @electproject.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
The penalty for being disrespectful is now on-the-spot execution
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Clara Jeffery @clarajeffery.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
"You gonna murder someone else? You can't kill us all, Nazis."
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Josh McCrain @joshmccrain.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
new paper by Sean Westwood: With current technology, it is impossible to tell whether survey respondents are real or bots. Among other things, makes it easy for bad actors to manipulate outcomes. No good news here for the future of online-based survey research
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Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
I fully believe in the corporate death penalty and believe we would be a better world if OpenAI lost its corporate charter and was forcibly dissolved. www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
cnn.com
ChatGPT encouraged college graduate to commit suicide, family claims in lawsuit against OpenAI | CNN
A 23-year-old man killed himself in Texas after ChatGPT ‘goaded’ him to commit suicide, his family says in a lawsuit.
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Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
Lots of US companies have done lots of dreadful things to Americans. But the symbolism of paying to destroy the White House is hard to top.
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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
This is fascism, core fascism. Control of knowledge-producing institutions via subversion of their independence, to conscript them into service of the leader & his regime
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 30/09/2025
We laugh at this shit -- I mean, how can you not? -- but it's serious: these guys want to infuse reactionary thinking into AI and then infuse AI into every nook & cranny of American life. They can't win the argument so they are trying to blunt-force their views onto us with money & power.
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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
Bailing out Argentina clarifies "America First." The transnational right is first, everyone else is an enemy. The Trump admin defends it by calling Argentina an ally. But while US-Argentina relations are friendly, they're not allies. US allies are states Trump is antagonizing, such as South Korea.
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Megan Mattes @meganmattes.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
Kneecap is no threat to public safety and the government knows it. It is insane that Canada is following the UK's disastrous policies of targeting those who speak out against genocide. Where's this level of condemnation for those alleged to support the state of Israel's genocidal hate and violence?
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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
Again, FCC chair Brendan Carr basically SAID THIS STRAIGHT OUT on Sean Hannity in a quote that nobody noticed: newrepublic.com/article/2006...
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Adam Gurri @adamgurri.liberalcurrents.com · 18/09/2025
Contra this, saw someone (correctly) describe our situation as the administration wanting to skip to the steps at the end of an authoritarian consolidation when they haven’t even managed the first ones
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Bruno J. Navarro @brunojnavarro.bsky.social · 13/07/2025
in case you’ve ever wondered how much a nazi prison supervisor would get paid in 2025
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Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 04/07/2025
"With the passage of Trump's death bill, we face the prospect of many great harms, including an archipelago of concentration camps across the United States." snyder.substack.com/p/concentrat...
snyder.substack.com
Concentration Camp Labor
Cannot Become Normal
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Fair Vote Canada 🗳️🍁 @fairvote.ca · 17/06/2025
🚨B.C. is listening!🚨 The all-party committee on electoral reform wants your input. Think every vote should count? Speak up for proportional representation! Submit your feedback by July 25 at 2 PM PT: consultation-portal.leg.bc.ca/consultation...
consultation-portal.leg.bc.ca
LABC Consultation Portal
Welcome to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia's Consultation Portal. Participate in public consultations, submit feedback, and share your views on key legislative matters.
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The Globe and Mail @theglobeandmail.com · 10/05/2025
theglobeandmail.com
Canada has the form of democracy, but not the substance
Our parliamentary system is in a state of disrepair so advanced that it has lost much of its relevance
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Megan Mattes @meganmattes.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
My report written in collaboration with @realityclimatique.bsky.social with the support of Mitacs and SFU's 312 Main Research Shop is now available! Check it out to learn more about different tools for local public engagement on climate (and eight case studies!) bit.ly/ClimateDemocracyReport
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Andrew Tobolowsky @andytobo.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
I will say this - EVERYONE with power seems to be desperately hoping that unpopularity does the work that consequences need to do
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Caitlin G. DeAngelis @caitlindeangelis.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
you know things are going well when they break out the turnip photos
photo of a red shopping basket filled with turnips, under the headline: 
If you’re worried about food tariffs, adopt a frugal mindset and cook smarter
Learn to shop for groceries like a thrifter and work on eliminating waste
By Sheryl Julian Globe Correspondent,Updated April 7, 2025, 7:21 a.m.

caption: The big question is, writes Sheryl Julian, are we expected to remove all the pleasures from the table and turn the nightly dinner into a feast of locally grown turnips (above) and leafy greens?Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff
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Adam Bonica @adambonica.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
With Yoon removed from office today, by my count that makes 34 democratic leaders convicted since 2010. Only one—Trump—faced no real consequences. Trump's actions weren't uncommon. What was exceptional was how our institutions failed to hold him accountable.
A table titled “Convicted World Leaders” with columns: Name, Country, Role, Year, Reason, Status, and Consequence. It lists political leaders from various countries who were convicted of crimes ranging from corruption and bribery to abuse of power and attempted coups. Most rows have a red background, signaling convictions with prison time or bans. One row is highlighted in green and features Donald Trump (USA, President), listed as convicted in 2023 for Jan 6, Corruption, Abuse of Power, Documents, Election Interference, with the consequence noted as No formal ban or sentencing/Granted Immunity.
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David Moscrop @davidmoscrop.com · 04/04/2025
A recession? In this economy?
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Megan Mattes @meganmattes.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
Since October I've been working with the Climate Reality Canada team to report on creative ways to include the public in climate policy making. Join us on April 24 for the report launch - registration below!
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Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
Here's a picture of someone being pulled off the street in broad daylight during the rule of the Argentine junta. If you do it in public, during the day, it's because you want people to see
A group of soldiers are carrying a body towards what appears to be a bus or large vehicle of some sort; a woman in a blue dress seems to be trying to pull the detainee back; they are all in the middle of the street on a sunny day
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Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
Unidentified men grabbing someone off the street and putting her in a car because she wrote an op-Ed. This as flatly authoritarian as anything we’ve seen in this country in a very long time.
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The Serfs (youtube.com/theserfstv) @theserfstv.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
Hamdan Ballal, Academy Award winning co-director of No Other Land, has reportedly been kidnapped and imprisoned by the IDF
Hamdan's Oscar acceptance speech on ABC
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Look, folks, this is it. The entire ballgame. Either we're a Republic of laws & the Constitution, or we have a dictator. This is fascism, & the impeachment vote should be happening today. Every single university president in the country should be out, in front of microphones, condemning this.
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Lily Mason @lilymasonphd.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
Quote from the article: "This is what is important: It does not matter if you approve of Khalil’s views. It does not matter if you support the Israelis or the Palestinians. It does not matter if you are a liberal or a conservative. It does not even matter if you voted for Trump or Kamala Harris. If the state can deprive an individual of his freedom just because of his politics, which is what appears to have happened here, then no one is safe. You may believe that Khalil does not deserve free speech or due process. But if he does not have them, then neither do you. Neither do I."
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Hari Kunzru @harikunzru.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
Some figures on the potential death toll from Musk's pointless destruction of USAID, from a memo written by a fired official. He will be remembered as one of the great monsters of history. 1/x
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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
People keep saying "it's gonna be a long four years," and I keep saying: this cannot go on for even a small portion of that. People will die, government will crumble, America will go to war, and our democratic republic will be dead, buried, and rotted out top to bottom. He *must* be removed ASAP
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Josh Zingher @zingherpolisci.bsky.social · 23/02/2025
Trump is trying to do two separate things: 1.) become an authoritarian leader, and 2.) implement a massively unpopular policy program. These goals conflict with each other and are hopefully self sabotaging in the end. 1x
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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
I finally got what's bugged me about all these stories on the crippling of the US govt: all of them speak of "cuts" when, in fact, only Congress can 'cut' funding, and it has done nothing of the sort. The story describes illegal & unconstitutional impoundment, BUT SAYS NOT ONE WORD ABOUT IT
washingtonpost.com
HUD cuts expected to worsen America’s housing crisis, staffers say
The Department of Housing and Urban Development is expected to be slashed in half, according to an internal memo obtained by The Washington Post.
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Musa Okwonga @okwonga.bsky.social · 23/02/2025
I know the material reasons for the rise of fascism. I also think another reason - which doesn’t get talked about as much because it’s embarrassing that humans can be that naive - is that when you are financially comfortable but bored, abstract cruelty can give you a sense of purpose.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 10/02/2025
The AI coup is “political offloading, shifting the messy work of winning political debates to the false authority of machine analytics. It's a way of displacing the collective decision-making at the core of representative politics.” — @eryk.bsky.social
techpolicy.press
Anatomy of an AI Coup | TechPolicy.Press
DOGE is gutting federal agencies to install AI across the government. Democracy is on the line, writes Tech Policy Press fellow Eryk Salvaggio.
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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
Unelected agents of a oligarch have seized core services of the state without legal sanction or authorization; yes, that's a coup
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
if you haven't learned about the imperial boomerang today's as good a day as any
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The Conversation Canada @ca.theconversation.com · 28/01/2025
Lessons from Ireland: How the country’s electoral system would strengthen Canadian democracy
theconversation.com
Lessons from Ireland: How the country’s electoral system would strengthen Canadian democracy
A new electoral system in Canada could help curb polarization, ensure fairer representation and transform Canadian democracy for the better.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 24/01/2025
It’s time to stop denying what we see with our own eyes and say plainly that Elon Musk is a fascist and the far-right project he’s pushing globally poses a serious threat. He needs to be stopped before it’s too late.
disconnect.blog
Elon Musk is a fascist
The richest man in the world intends his far-right project to go global
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Megan Mattes @meganmattes.bsky.social · 14/01/2025
Fresh from @joannacm.bsky.social and me: a look at how setting up embedded, ongoing democratic innovations - rather than just occasionally dipping our toes into the waters of innovation - could help better connect policy makers and the public, incorporating findings from our recent article in CJPS.
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Toronto Star @thestar.com · 07/01/2025
He regrets it? Don’t forget Justin Trudeau was the architect of electoral reform’s demise. He bears full responsibility for this. In his retirement, he is free to do whatever he pleases. But he cannot rewrite the history books. #Opinion
thestar.com
He regrets it? Don’t forget Justin Trudeau was the architect of electoral reform’s demise
The prime minister can ‘misremember’ his legacy as much as he likes, but he can’t rewrite the history books.
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