"How American Politics went insane." An article that every American voter needs to read.

Like Trump, Bernie Sanders appealed to the antipolitical idea that the mere act of voting for him would prompt a “revolution” that would somehow clear up such knotty problems as health-care coverage, financial reform, and money in politics. Like Trump, he was a self-sufficient outsider without customary political debts or party loyalty. Like Trump, he neither acknowledged nor cared—because his supporters neither acknowledged nor cared—that his plans for governing were delusional. 

Trump, Sanders, and Ted Cruz have in common that they are political sociopaths—meaning not that they are crazy, but that they don’t care what other politicians think about their behavior and they don’t need to care. That three of the four final presidential contenders in 2016 were political sociopaths is a sign of how far chaos syndrome has gone. The old, mediated system selected such people out. The new, disintermediated system seems to be selecting them in. 

That is only two paragraphs in an exceeding long article which explains how our current anti-establishment ideas about choosing candidates, implementing policies, and reforming government are actually causing long term harm to our country.

Author Jonathon Rauch, dives deep to explain how things such as party leaders, pork barrel spending, and political compromise, which are all widely derided in today's politics, were actually good for the country and helped to keep in running relatively smoothly until recently.

I found the article to be very informative and somewhat empowering as it reinforced many of the points that I have made here on IM about  the problems with political revolutions and uncompromising partisanship.

It also reminded me of a discussion I had with my daughter about Bernie Sanders during which she said that she admired him because he never compromised his values.

My response to her, and I think I wrote about it here as well, is that while it is great to have strong values, a politician who refuses to compromise is a politician who will never get a damn thing accomplished.

I told her that I found the idea of electing ANY President who thinks that they can force through their agenda without considering the obstruction they will face from their opposition, to be very a troubling thought indeed. Even IF I was in agreement with that President on most issues. 

That is also why I was never really on board with the so-called Bernie political "revolution," which seemed for all intents and purposes to be a left leaning version of the Tea Party.

If the Democrats start electing anti-establishment, extremely partisan, candidates to send to Washington, not only will that fire up the right wing fringe even more, but it will simply pour more concrete into the political machinery of DC resulting in an even worse situation than the one we face right now.

If such a thing is even possible.

So definitely take the time to read this article.

Yes it is a little long, but it is also very thought provoking, and probably the shot of reality that a lot of American voters need right now.