Why America Is Such a Broken Country — And Its Malaise Is Spreading

Why Our Politics Are Dismally Inadequate for the Challenges of This Century

It’s impossible not to notice — just how broken America really is, by way of its politics, which have cratered its economy, and ripped apart its society. And that dysfunction’s spreading around the globe, from Europe to Asia and beyond.

So why? Why, as Zoomers might say, is America…like this?

This little essay’s going to be about a question, in the form of a comment. I’m going to paste it below, with a warning. The second a lot of people read the name “Marianne Williamson,” they’re going to roll their eyes, and close the tab. That’s a mistake. Because what we’re going to do, like I said, is discuss all this…seriously, using figures like Marianne Williamson, or Bernie Sanders, a kind of omnipresent list of people who can never, ever seem to get through to Americans.

Joan says: “I read your posts all the time and agree with most of what you have to say. I haven’t heard you mention Marianne Williamson at all. Please read her platform and substack writings. You might be surprised that her ideas and thoughts align with yours in many ways. Don’t ignore her the way mainstream media ignores her.”

Let me rephrase the question, which is really, why don’t you discuss figures like Marianne or Bernie or AOC and so forth more? I’m going to put it like this. Why is the center of politics collapsing — beginning in America, and radiating outwards, to the point we can see European social democracy visibly beginning to break?

I’m going to try to the answer to that in a very simple way. Here we have a side that…well…is fanatical and extremist. You know the side I’m talking about — from America’s GOP to the, LOL, “True Finns,” to Sweden’s “Sweden Democrats,” who, chortle, on taking power, abolished the Environment Ministry, to the Brexiters, who incinerated Britain’s future in an economic megafire, to parties like this rising around the globe, really.

Now. Am I just saying that? Not at all: by fanatical and extremist I mean something formal and technical, precise. And this part is where the breakdown begins, because we’re not taught even this much by media and educational systems, really. What does “fanatical and extremist” mean? It means absolutist positions.

And those can’t be compromised with. They don’t ask for consent. They just say “you had better accept this, or else.” Or else what? A chain reaction begins, which this side pretends it’s innocent of, but the consequences are a) historic and b) visible all over again. Smears act as hate — anyone against this side is a “pedophile,” a “groomer, an “invader,” not a “true” American (or Finn). And all that invites lunatics to finish the job, with very real violence, that the fanatics and extremists imply needs to get done. Hence, America’s now seeing a wave of violence from this political side, party, way.

All of that, too, means something incredibly simple, yet really precise, and this is the part I want you to think about carefully.

Politics under this set of arrangements becomes impossible. At least democratic politics does. Let me give you a few examples to drive the point home.