> completely opposed to everything the American people want The recent success of the Republican party in my mind is more indicative of a few things: - "Safet

> completely opposed to everything the American people want The recent success of the Republican party in my mind is more indicative of a few things: - "Safety nets" are largely sight unseen (except when they break down), and even for those who benefit from one or two programs, all other programs are "government waste" and "handouts." People who need to be frugal and only spend on their own necessities will naturally project that expectation onto their government. - It's very easy to blame globalization for the rapid restructuring of the U.S. workforce. And while arguably no group is more supportive of globalization than the group attempting to loosen regulations on increasingly international businesses, it's easy for them to hide that intent behind "well this is all actually an initiative by the previous administration." Obama fighting for the TPP did no favors to his legacy. - The "information overload" presented by modern (social and traditional) media places emphasis on clickbait and easy-to-communicate ideas. And it's much easier to communicate "taxes are taking your hard-earned money" than "funding this program has a small but measurable effect on X because of the complex economic relationship between Y and Z, and since there's an 8% chance of X mattering to your children's lives, you should care." (For every John Oliver taking 20 minutes per topic, there's an Alex Jones screaming about 20 topics every minute.) - When confronted with a scary world, people retreat to the communities they understand, and it's very easy to make the leap from "my community's values are effective at reassuring me that life won't get worse" to "these values are globally optimal for all time, and those who disagree or seek progress are the enemy." - No matter how much your candidate might not follow your values personally, they can't be any worse than the guys already there failing to execute on the above priorities. People ARE voting for their interests as they see them. Insofar as you agree that a "state" is still a culturally significant unit of division in the U.S. (and therefore justifies the weight placed on votes from smaller states), democracy is working. What is not working is "empathetic rationality," the ability to set aside gut reactions and internalize the problems that other humans might face under probability-weighted scenarios. Closing this gap is the most pressing question of our times.