Douglas E Schoen

Analyzes the widening gap between politicians, including lobbyists and consultants, and the American mainstream, and discusses the rise in populist movements that threatens to drive the two-party system to its collapse.

"America's future has never seemed more uncertain. Our politics are dysfunctional; our cultural cohesion is a thing of the past; our institutions have lost legitimacy; and our identity as Americans seems increasingly subordinate to tribal or ideological identities. Overhanging all these issues is a loss of confidence in democracy itself, both in America and around the world, and the concomitant rise of authoritarianism as a viable model of governance...