A good article, Brian, but I see that you forgot to mention one important aspect: The waning role of the US during this time period. The Berlin Wall disappeared and the Republican Party had to find a new anchor to replace the foreign superpower's role. It did not do so by embracing human beings as the center of their ideology. They looked beyond and quickly found consumerism, money and property as their next best ideals. We can envision this as an anchor dragging along the bottom of the sea until it stuck somewhere else. Of course, this consumerism and money were already part of the Republican center but they had to play that more important role now.

Not having that superpower enemy anymore meant both parties had to reinvent themselves somewhat, and the Democratic Party, too, embraced different tactics; I would almost say they copied the Republican Party tactics. They did keep human beings at the center of their ideals, however.

W. Bush and Trump are the outcomes of that anchor that is somewhat solid, but not as solid as before; it has drifted. Obama and Biden are the counter anchors. Without the superpower enemy, these anchors are less clear. We are not drifting a lot, but we are also not anchored like before. The ideals are not as clear as they once were, or when they are clear, they are a bit out of touch, having lost their solid grounds.

Both parties could break into two. The Bernie Sanders voters could finally break free from the Democratic Party. But our 18th century voting system functions like a straight-jacket. Not the voters have the power; the two parties hold onto the power.

We have a choice how to move forward. Do we continue with this 18th century voting system that was great when there was a real enemy of super proportions? Or do we embrace a USA 2.0 upgrade?

The US Constitution already allows for voting reform and the 14th Amendment has even been ruled to mean that our governments must use the better system when available.

Both parties are drifting slightly. But being a superpower ourselves, our political parties drifting is not a good sign, not even ever so slightly. We do not have a good anchor with this 18th century voting system. We are freed from the superpower enemy, but we have not given ourselves the freedoms we say we embrace. We should do so before China takes over our leading position, starting in about ten years or so. We can anchor ourselves more deeply with becoming a modern democracy and give up on our 18th century system. The voters need to be given more power because the two parties are floating too high above us all, like a Wall Street market flush with money and a substantial number of people going hungry in our streets, millions of children going to bed hungry at night.

Here is my latest article about minorities embracing winner-take-all while they do not have a good reason to do so.

https://medium.com/carre4/why-minorities-embrace-winner-take-all-f81b22b7f72