Consider these news items:
News Item #1 The first story, in response to the government shutdown, appeared in Axios and is a quote attributed to "a senior GOP House aide": "The largest country in the world, with global responsibilities, shutting down the government over a squabble ... 100% for short-term political gain."
News Item #2 One year after Donald Trump's inauguration, a new poll says that 82% percent of Republicans age 18-24 want another Republican candidate to challenge Trump in the 2020 primaries.
News Item #3 According to an NBC News poll this past November, 71% of millennials don't like either of the two major parties and would prefer a new third party.
News Item #4 On the eve of Election Day 2016, pollster Frank Luntz put together a focus group for "60 Minutes" with 25 voters from all sides. He asked, "How many of you will be voting for your candidate of choice on Tuesday?" Three raised their hands. "And how many of you are voting against a candidate?" The other 22 raised their hands.
News Item # 5 A 2014 Princeton University study concluded that the US system of governance is an oligarchy, not a democracy: "The central point that emerges from our research is that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on US government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence."
So ... what can we conclude?
Young people in particular are disgusted and discouraged by the two-party duopoly and the candidates they put forth. By a ratio of more than seven to one, voters last year voted AGAINST the other candidate rather than FOR "their" candidate. Those involved in government who haven't been "ethically cleansed", are frustrated by two entrenched parties duking it out at our expense. And finally, even the establishment (Princeton University) acknowledges that the power of money and influence has caused our democracy to devolve into "mockracy" -- a toxic mimic of what it was created to be.
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