2016 was an election about change….a funny topic because Americans do not want change……it was a primary season about the rise of the outsiders….

We have a 3 branch system of government…..a great idea…but unfortunately ours does NOT work and has NOT worked for decades.

It’s 2020, four years from now. The campaign is under way to succeed the president, who is retiring after a single wretched term. Voters are angrier than ever—at politicians, at compromisers, at the establishment. Congress and the White House seem incapable of working together on anything, even when their interests align. With lawmaking at a standstill, the president’s use of executive orders and regulatory discretion has reached a level that Congress views as dictatorial—not that Congress can do anything about it, except file lawsuits that the divided Supreme Court, its three vacancies unfilled, has been unable to resolve.

On Capitol Hill, Speaker Paul Ryan resigned after proving unable to pass a budget, or much else. The House burned through two more speakers and one “acting” speaker, a job invented following four speakerless months. The Senate, meanwhile, is tied in knots by wannabe presidents and aspiring talk-show hosts, who use the chamber as a social-media platform to build their brands by obstructing—well, everything. The Defense Department is among hundreds of agencies that have not been reauthorized, the government has shut down three times, and, yes, it finally happened: The United States briefly defaulted on the national debt, precipitating a market collapse and an economic downturn. No one wanted that outcome, but no one was able to prevent it.

Source: How American Politics Became So Ineffective – The Atlantic

So the question remains…what the Hell happened?

That one is easy to analyze…..

Trumpism may have parallels in populist, nativist movements abroad, but it is also the culmination of a proud political party’s steady descent into a deeply destructive and dysfunctional state.

While that descent has been underway for a long time, it has accelerated its pace in recent years. We noted four years ago the dysfunction of the Republican Party, arguing that its obstructionism, anti-intellectualism, and attacks on American institutions were making responsible governance impossible. The rise of Trump completes the script, confirming our thesis in explicit fashion.

Source: The Republicans waged a 3-decade war on government. They got Trump. – Vox

And then some say it has been a 50 year struggle for the GOP…..a struggle to change the very definition of “American Values”……

The current U.S. presidential election cycle may seem over the top. But in one important way, it is no different than any other over the past several decades. Since the 1970s, presidential candidates running under the Republican ticket have successively shifted further and further to the political right. How many times have we heard—or said—that George W. Bush made Richard Nixon look like a liberal?

The rightward political shift is no accident. Since the end of World War II, far-right conservatives and libertarians have patiently laid the groundwork for a national climate receptive to their ideals of weak government and a strong corporate presence.

Source: The far-right’s 50-year project to transform American values with a clandestine ‘counterrevolution’

Now look at this country and what is happening…..the country is so divided that nothing gets accomplished….it is a program that will change nothing…..a program that will eventually destroy this country from the inside.

(I know it is a lot to take in…but it is worth reading all the links…that is if you see there is something wrong with this country….if not then return for the search for Pokemon).