Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Join author Maya Kornberg and The Guardian’s Chief Reporter, Ed Pilkington, for a deep dive into how America’s legislative branch has struggled to reform itself — and what that paralysis means for the future of democracy — in Kornberg’s upcoming book Stuck: How Money, Media, and Violence Prevent Change in Congress. Drawing on dozens of interviews with lawmakers and tracing reform efforts from the “Watergate babies” of the 1970s to today’s polarized Congress, Kornberg reveals how political violence, skyrocketing campaign costs, centralized party power, and the pressures of modern media have constrained lawmakers and stifled meaningful change. Yet she also points toward tangible reforms that could help Congress reclaim its capacity to legislate and represent the public.
Join author Maya Kornberg and The Guardian’s Chief Reporter, Ed Pilkington, for a deep dive into how America’s legislative branch has struggled to reform itself — and what that paralysis means for the future of democracy — in Kornberg’s upcoming book Stuck: How Money, Media, and Violence Prevent Change in Congress. Drawing on dozens of interviews with lawmakers and tracing reform efforts from the “Watergate babies” of the 1970s to today’s polarized Congress, Kornberg reveals how political violence, skyrocketing campaign costs, centralized party power, and the pressures of modern media have constrained lawmakers and stifled meaningful change. Yet she also points toward tangible reforms that could help Congress reclaim its capacity to legislate and represent the public.
