The political earthquake propelling Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders | TheHill

A subterranean, subliminal rumble is building across America, although large populations in the West and Northeast seem deaf to it. At first blush, American politics might seem polarized, breaking neatly along left and right political fault lines. But even a cursory look at the 2020 presidential race presents a very different picture. Eighty percent of the American public is fed up and prefers candidates who are well outside the traditional political ruling class, be it left or right. 

via thehill.com

As they say in the blog biz, c. 2009, read the whole thing. I have shared this feeling about our political situation for a while. In the great flyover country, things are indeed changing. I was really struck, for instance, by what I’ve heard about just how profound the opiate crisis is. Evidently, there are many towns where you literally can’t find people to take ordinary jobs because the usual people are too strung out, disabled, whatever the term might be, to work. And that’s just part of it. Desperate people take desperate measures.