
How American Politics Went Insane - orangewin
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/07/how-american-politics-went-insane/485570/?single_page=true
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mindslight
Chaos is the inevitable result when _any_ centralized system attempts to bite
off more than it can chew. Top-down governance only works for what the central
entity can perceive, understand, and control. Thanks to technology expanding
the scope of perception and control, our modern society has devolved into
totalitarianism. Yet without superintelligence god-king AI, complete
understanding cannot be achieved. Nor would we, as sentient humans, ever want
it to be.

Unfortunately, it will never be a popular idea to _let go_ of this centralized
control. The same technological trends have given us individuals similar
perception. The belief that any action of any person is subject to popular
judgment is now deeply embedded in our psyche. Everybody fashions themselves a
mini dictator, deciding between whether any given activity should be
prohibited or mandatory. Occam's razor, "live and let live", and "good fences
make good neighbors" have gone out the window.

Sure, we all still long to be left alone _ourselves_. But our desire for
freedom is played to by demagogues promising freedom _through_ this top-down
structure that they'd like to steer. Our frustrations are then channeled
toward the people of the "opposing team" rather than properly on the system
that has bound us all in this suicide pact.

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rando18423
I just finished reading Hamilton, all 700+ pages, and this article doesn't
seem to address the viciousness that has been a documented part of American
politics for over 200 years now. Really not all that much has changed?
Jefferson was frequently called a "fanatic" who "pandered to the populace" and
the age was marred by again, vicious personal slandering.

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gumby
Indeed, this is also like the chaos that accompanied the self-destruction of
the american Whig party before the civil war. My guess is that the republicans
will become a loud irrelevance by 2020 and cease to exist after that while the
democrats (which are not really a party either, simply everyone who is "not
republican") will split into a few factions, two of which will be strong
enough to be parties (probably one still called "Democrat") by 20204/2028.

