This week the Washington Post reported that the ultimately successful effort to release the Epstein files started many months ago with a text exchange between Representatives Thomas Massie (Rep.) and Ro Khanna (Dem.).

I found this story particularly intriguing because, as some readers know, I have, over the years, in various contexts, laid out the vast body of sociological and political scientific research demonstrating that relationships, far more than ideological commitments, drive political mobilization, organization, and information transmission. And I have used this research to argue that strengthening and broadening social ties within partisan networks presents an alternative, and as yet under-appreciated, path to responsive and responsible governance.

“Massie, a Kentucky Repub

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