The Great American Disconnect

“A disconnect ensues: Even as the American public has indeed polarized, our elected representatives have fled to the extremes to an even greater degree.”

If we had to pick one word to describe why American politics has been both so dysfunctional and so divisive in the post-9/11 era, “disconnect” might work.

First, there is the disconnect between politicians and the people writ large generated by the distorting effects of party primaries. Especially as Americans geographically sort into partisan enclaves, House districts have grown safer. Thus, the principal electoral threat that elected officials face is their primary, not the general election, and the greatest danger in a primary is being outflanked on one’s left if one is a Democrat or outflanked on one’s right if one is a Republican. Thus, members of Congress play to the most fringe sector of their district in order to win. A disconnect ensues: Even as the American public has indeed polarized, our elected representatives have fled to the extremes to an even greater degree. There is a disconnect between the representatives and the represented, leaving an “exhausted majority”—spanning the centers of both parties—increasingly unrepresented in Congress.

Second, there are the curious disconnects within the parties. Both are worrisome, but for different reasons.

On the Republican side, there is a disconnect between the popular base and the leaders (in office and in the media), which is primarily the result of lies. The base is now riddled with true believers in the election fraud conspiracies. It has been radicalized to a considerable degree. Those who are part of this base have bought into narratives peddled by folks like Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, who know the narratives to be false. The elites have unleashed something to which they are now being held hostage.