
Veteran political strategist Mike Madrid wasn’t surprised by the outcome of the 2024 presidential race. He’s been studying the nation’s politics and demographics for decades.
“The election outcomes […] are part of a longer-term transformation of American [and] global society as we become fully ensconced in the digital age.,” he said during the Helen Edison Lecture at UC San Diego.
Madrid says throughout human history, societies were defined by a hierarchical structure where people at the top set the rules. The currency of power, and therefore information, was delegated from the top down. He says the hierarchical model doesn’t work in the digital age especially as information flows horizontally.
“The great transformation is a redefinition of our understanding of institutions – those things we agree upon as a structure to allow us to live in a civilized place.”
Madrid, author of “The Latino Century: How America’s Largest Minority Is Transforming Democracy,” compares what we are going through today with the upheaval that the industrial revolution caused to the agrarian way of life, which resulted in a dramatic reimagining of society.
Alongside the digital revolution is an unprecedented demographic transformation. For the first time in our history, the United States of America will be a non-White majority country in 15 years.
“That’s why we’re experiencing some of the fastest collapse in confidence and trust in our institutions right now.”
Watch Madrid’s presentation and his engaging conversation with policy and public affairs communication expert Zach Friend.