… It is a tense time in U.S. politics. Separation of parties along lines of class and race, technological disruption, increasing economic inequality, and bitter and close national elections. This combination of problems is reminiscent of the original Gilded Age. …
Perhaps counterintuitively, the parallels make me optimistic about our future. We do have challenging problems: deep resentment of elites, the desperation of a shrinking majority ethnic group, information silos, and a lack of policy overlap between the major parties. But even the worst problems cannot continue forever, and the first Gilded Age did eventually end.
People then thought they were standing on the edge of Armageddon. But at some point one enters Armageddon…or one does not. They escaped, and entered the Progressive Era. I believe that with work and luck, we can do the same. CONTINUED
Sam Wang, Fixing Bugs In Democracy
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