>- A Democratic Party that failed its middle and lower class Republicans blocked almost all efforts to get anything done. Blame would lie equally with them. T

>- A Democratic Party that failed its middle and lower class Republicans blocked almost all efforts to get anything done. Blame would lie equally with them. Their specific motive was to shut Obama down and render his presidency mute. As such he expanded the executive which Trump has taken advantage of. >- A media industry obsessed with growth and sensationalism Ad dollars and there was a repeal of the fairness doctrine. That lead to Fox News not being news but entertainment and pushing the right wing agenda. >- A cultural obsession with money and so called "success" It's reported this way but is it actually true? Most Americans make less than 50k so I maybe money is a concern. >- A deep-rooted racial problem Probably true. It's been codified into law, not explicitly per se anymore but effectively so. >- A population trained to not be skeptical, and be responsive to advertisement Americans do learn what propaganda is in school but a vocal irrational minority tends to saturate social media. But there are political agendas driven by state legislatures to write the curriculum as well as a lot of revisionist history in school textbooks. >- A shared obsession to "be the greatest country on earth" Only because it drives headlines. - A two-party political system with sports-like irrational rivalry This is about guns, abortion and taxes mostly. Most of the time it is about the economy. - A democracy where the popular vote of the majority doesn't seem to matter Well this is a founding of the country problem.. basically the rich people at the time didn't want a true democracy and instead opted for a republic. And politicians exploit these properties to shift the balance of power in their favor. The mechanism to power here is the vote and they suppress voters they don't want etc... - A tradition of long-standing political dynasties disconnected from the people's needs This is not really true. I think the bigger issue is that a lot of money is needed to fund a campaign and most people don't donate and as such politicians have to court big business or big monied interests. McCain wanted campaign finance reform as well as a repeal of super pac funding. At a minimum we need full transparency so people can make an informed choice.