In a moment when democratic societies are searching for the roots of their own fractures, Senator Chris Murphy has offered an unusual diagnosis: that loneliness and powerlessness are the soil in which populist politics grows, and that regulating the internet may be one way to tend that soil. Speaking from the premise that culture precedes politics, Murphy argues that government has a role not just in shaping markets and laws, but in shaping the conditions of human connection itself. The proposal raises ancient questions about the proper reach of public authority into private life — questions t