Good afternoon from Capitol Hill, where I’ve been dodging mosquitoes and getting my head around having a sixth grader. Alex here, with another civic text. Thanks to everyone who has signed up since my last dispatch, particularly the paid subscribers who have supported this work. If you can, I hope you’ll consider becoming a member. Today, I want to follow the advice of my friend Anil Dash and make a long thread into a blog post. Over five years ago, I began writing about a problematic trope i