frank luntz among many others, argues that the election was an expression not of enthusiasm for republicans, but of extreme disaffection with the way we are governed. "People say Washington is broken and on the decline, that government no longer works for them — only for the rich and powerful." in order to express that, they voted republican. it's like you expressed your happiness through extreme despair. next time around, you'll be able to express your continued alienation by voting democrat. you can show how much you hate power and privilege by voting for hillary clinton.
this situation is entirely absurd. we're completely trapped. there's no way to express our disgust, apparently, but to redouble and encourage all that disgusts us. so: the two-party system must be destroyed. i would like to see the democratic party die by asphyxiating on its own vomit. no hope for even vague democracy until the republican party bleeds out. start by abandoning and ridiculing your own party. the platform is bullshit anyway, i can tell you that, and the people you are voting for are dedicated primarily to their own privilege and that of their little group.
say you vote democratic because you are concerned about income inequality. how has that gone during the obama administration? if you think the situation would improve under hillary, you are quite immune to the empirical. now, in the voting booth, i could only express my disgust for the way democrats concertedly advocate equality and pursue economic inequality on behalf of their billionaire donors and friends by voting for jeb bush or mitt romney. in this situation, you're going to try to persuade me that it's my civic duty to vote. you have lost my mind.
that's the political problem, but the substantive problem is this: economic inequality is simply going to continue to get more extreme, and there is no way to ameliorate it through the mechanisms of our democracy. that's a reductio ad absurdum either of democracy in general or of the claim that this is a democracy.
