Just finished reading @povertyscholar's "Fragmented Democracy: Medicaid, Federalism, & Unequal Politics." It's phenomenal. I can't say enough good things. But I'm about to say a bunch of them (thread)

1. Smart, accessible writing. We should all write like this. We should teach our students to write like this. #FragmentedDemocracy

2. Clear and thoughtful discussion of methods, with minimal jargon - especially useful to outsiders.

3. A focus on "political life" rather than "political behavior" -- in order to provide a fuller picture of the varied experiences of democratic citizenship #FragmentedDemocracy

4. Elucidates the connection b/w the way the U.S. distributes resources and how recipients engage in politics -- building on important work by @SuzanneMettler1, Andrea Campbell, et al. but going beyond, by getting deep into lived experiences

5. Teaches us a ton about Medicaid -- again, moving beyond its structure & legal workings into the way recipients encounter it. We knew about geographical variability, but not about the consequences, esp. for democratic engagement.

6. A great study of what @saramayeux & I have called "federalism in practice." @povertyscholar forces us to look at how federalism is actually working, esp. vis-a-vis this country's ostensible commitments to democracy and inequality. #FragmentedDemocracy

7. Not a simple story. @povertyscholar finds that "Medicaid has the potential to be a boon or a bust for political engagement." Then she tries to figure out what factors make it go one way or the other. #FragmentedDemocracy

8. @povertyscholar is clear about the political stakes of this research. Recognizes that Medicaid is under seige & says 'these findings are NOT a justification for retrenchment.' Let's ask how to maintain a "lifesaver" program w/o also eroding citizenship for some recipients.

9. Ch. 2 of #FragmentedDemocracy is a great primer on #federalism - bringing together work in poli sci and law. I'd describe @povertyscholar's take as "Derthick-ian" -- w/ emphasis on federalism as a "dynamic institution"

10. Ch. 3 of #FragmentedDemocracy gives clear, striking examples of how Medicaid varies from place to place & why it matters. "Decaying teeth, cataracts, loss of hearing" as "tangible evidence" of how democratic governance is working

11. Coda to this is how Medicaid expansion stalled post-Sebelius... Then the use of 1115 waivers, altering program requirements --> greater geographic variability

12. Legal scholars of #federalism - the end of Ch. 3 is for us. We talk abt "the possibilities that federalism holds for empowering" the marginalized, but have we done the empirical work to back that up? What would that work look like? #FragmentedDemocracy

13. Lots of good things to say abt the state-level research ( #FragmentedDemocracy Ch. 4) but shout-out here to the hard work that went into conceptualizing Chs. 5 & 6, on how federalist policies play out at the local level (county, city) & how that might impact dem. engagement

14. As a legal historian of the state in the 20th c., I've been really interested in exploring these connections -- the reality of centralized policymaking & robust state & fed gov'ts w/ highly localized, particularized experiences of state power. This book is a nice model.

15. One of @povertyscholar's trenchant observations on the fed/state/local connection: "Residents' immediate surroundings can cultivate or amplify the political influence of state and federal policies." Those surroundings are often themselves products of policy.

16. Here's another: "People and places are closely intertwined, so implementing people-based policies in places marked by deprivation can undermine the democratic life of those very communities." Policy design must account for this. @povertyscholar

17. Here's a point I loved from the conclusion: We're talking a lot abt federalism & that's great, but not enough abt its consequences for political engagement & *political inequality*. For any proposed tweaks to federalist policies, ask abt democratic implications.

18. OK, I will now stop by Twitter love letter to #FragmentedDemocracy. Buy it, read it, and let's keep talking about it here!: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/fragmented-democracy/fragmented-democracy/19765423503CEF44ECEC4F2DA69B592B

(For more of my #federalism musings, here's my co-authored piece w/ @saramayeux on some great recent work in #legalhistory: http://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/facpubs/2598/ )

(And here's me, @brentcebul & @masonbwilliams on how much historians could gain from taking the "dynamic federalism" approach that @povertyscholar employs: https://academic.oup.com/publius/article-abstract/47/2/235/3038375)