This was excellent. It is worth noting, despite the inclination to put Trump in the center of every whirlwind, division has invaded much of the West.
Germany, the globe's 3rd largest economy, went from utter WWII defeat to a manufacturing miracle, in just a half century. Germans successfully reabsorbed East Germany, while producing Europe's wealthiest, most stable nation, with an enviable safety net.
And now, they are melting down in real time. Failed Energy and Immigration policy have produced a near 1/2 decade Recession. Europe's Golden Goose is in a coma, if not slain. Merz' 13% approval rating, has normally stoic, well behaved Germans channeling their inner Martin Luther. Half demand a full on Right Reformation, while the other half scream "racist".
Next door, Macron will end a decade of French rule with a 16% approval rating, 1% growth, and staggering debt. The lack of a proverbial Palace guillotine, his largest accomplishment. Macron will likely be followed by a woman long considered a political joke, wearing an ankle monitor.
Britain, rounding out the European Big 3, is now a former shell of itself. After 7 PMs in 10 years, per capita English income is lower than the poorest US state. The British Navy once ruled the World's seas. Now, English geriatrics patrol the Channel in kayaks, symbolically attempting to block migrant boats.
Europe has bright spots, Norway and Switzerland, but not many. Ironically, as Trump has US Dems discovering the Socialist within, much of liberal Europe is headed distinctly Right, if they are not already there.
The entire muck up could produce an epic SNL skit, if the world did not depend on the West for stability, growth and Enlightenment. Everywhere, Mass Migration and Energy are at the heart of the chaos. Until both questions are permanently answered, little is likely to improve, on either side of the Pond.
Interesting that this analysis comes a few days after the anniversary of 9/11.
IMO much of American cynicism is driven by the increasing divide between the top education/income/asset 20% and the bottom 80%, which itself is driven by the loss of the 1945-75 American economic monopoly that built a middle class whose standard of living for semi-skilled work became disproportionate to its value in a global market.
9/11 cut across these class lines because it traumatized the capital of the top 20% and the people who died came from all income/education levels - bond traders, kitchen workers, first responders, executives, and everyone in between.
Almost every other adverse event since the end of WWII has impacted the bottom 80% far more than the top 20%, but since our leaders are invariably drawn from the top 20% they have either minimized the problems or affirmatively made them worse.
We won’t be unified until our leaders recognize that the lives of the bottom 80% and the top 20% have become fundamentally different and take steps to redistribute opportunity - not dollars or outcomes - in ways the 80% perceives as fair. That requires leaders who are not only ethical and honest but leaders (FDR) who are also willing to betray their own class interests.
AI might create that event, if our robot overlords permit us to survive long enough to experience it.
What country has succeeded in equally distributing individual opportunity to reach its top quintile in education, income and assets - not just redistributing wealth - through every segment of its population?
The solutions won't come from within the very parties that perpetuate this ongoing fiasco. They have made things this way on purpose, because it works well for them.
The internet has changed everything. We the People see less and less need to get our news from vested interests who push a narrative, not the news. Imagine what will happen when We the People see less and less need for the Democratic and Republican parties.
We can't possibly keep adequately informed to vote wisely on every issue.
What we can do is insist that state level decisions be made at the state level. DC has vastly overstepped its constitutional bounds, thanks to the two parties. My rough estimate is that 90% of Washington DC is unconstitutional.
You wrote, "deep distrust of public institutions and the belief that those who lead us are mostly selfish, greedy, dishonest, and incompetent."
Yes, but this is demonstrably true. Look at all the people who got elected to Congress with nothing and became millionaires. Look at Pelosi's stock performance, or Trump's crypto deals, or how ex-presidents Clinton and Obama went from merely well-off to filthy rich after leaving office. Look at the revolving door between appointed political officials and the media and "consulting" firms, or between regulatory industries and those appointed to regulate them.
We've always been a people skeptical of government ("Question Authority" might as well be the American motto), but things are ridiculous now to the point that no one even tries to hide that they're making as much money as possible. There's a sense from people like Pelosi and others that they somehow deserve it. That is anethema to the American ideal.
Did this stuff go on before, say, the 21st centurry? Sure. But there wasn't that sense of entitlement behind it that smacks of some people thinking they are a "ruling class" and deserve to be rewarded. These are the very attitudes we fought against in the Revolutionary War.
Excellent paragraph but I would change Belief to Understanding.
Today, however, one of the defining features of public opinion is cynicism—deep distrust of public institutions and the belief that those who lead us are mostly selfish, greedy, dishonest, and incompetent.
We are in the Golden Age of Graft. While I am sure there are exceptions, the leadership class has proven themselves to be criminal. Change needs to come from outside the current pipelines.
Thinking about America (or the globe) as being in a cynical era makes a lot of sense.
However, it’s hard to believe that any political leader or political party can lead Americans or humanity out of this cynicism. (Although Rob Sand is trying)
Our cynicism is first a social challenge rather than a political challenge. It’s not just towards politicians and political parties. Civic membership is also down significantly and COVID accelerated that trend. Our suspicion (often justified!) of business, law, tech, media keeps increasing as practitioners are less and less likely to hold themselves to an ethical standard or consider the “right” way to ask, but just ask “is this illegal and will I get caught?”
To alleviate this cynicism will take acting and communicating in everyday spaces in ways that build connection, relationship, and trust. It’ll take people seeking role models for their ethics rather than just their success and material accumulation. And many, many more places with individuals rejecting their own cynicism to build something new. Once the social challenge is addressed then the political one can be dealt with.
"No more treating other Americans as enemies based on their vote preference or religion or regional background." Yes, and if we could treat our transgender fellow-Americans in the same respectful way, that'd be excellent! It's not okay to love everybody based on voting preferences but continue hating people whose decisions are none of our business because of "cultural issues."
This is another great post, but it's easy to flip the cynical/realist opposition: understanding that both Democrats and Republicans (going way back before Obama, Trump, and Biden) are in thrall to rich lobbyists and to never poking the bear that is the stock market is actually the realistic view. We tend to slide hard economic questions - how DO you raise wages without sending inflation even higher? - under the banners of values and patriotism when we need economic discipline instead: Americans don't want to leave overpriced stuff on the shelves to bring down prices - they want all their crap NOW, and when a politician can't wave a magic wand and make it happen, he's out with the next election.
But you're absolutely right that both parties need to get together and stop writing laws to make rich lobbyists happy. They probably never will (there's some cynicism 😉), but your plan is spot-on. Thank you as always!
Any incumbent or challenger does not control of the messaging to be table to not be seen as hypocritical and thus, reinforcing the cynicism.
The U.S. has not gone three election cycles with no effect communicator running in the general election for president. The result is that Trump is at a huge advantage due to the "just Trump being Trump" treatment.
America spends a lot of time wishing for political parties and politicians that are altruistic. The problem is American individualism has calcified throughout much of the culture. Sure, there are exceptions, groups of outliers, but a deep examination reveals we are self interested in the extreme. Why would our representatives be vastly different?
In so many ways, the cynicism we see is a reasonable and expected reaction to institutions and people that represent us. Politicians and their parties are the trees, and American culture is the forest.
Individualism, money, special interest groups, and increasingly propagandistic digital ecosystems make cynicism an appropriate frame of mind. Is it possible to change American culture and DNA?
The debate over the future of Democrats has neoliberal elites arguing mainly this: Biden caused inflation by pursuing the expansion of the welfare state and this loss is therefore self-inflicted and caused by progressive ideas.
The neoliberals overemphasize government spending and wage increases as causes for inflation, while they minimize supply chain issues, agricultural prices, corporate profits and the cascading effects of increases in federal interest rates on things like mortgages, auto loans and credit cards.
Who is right? More than half of inflation had nothing to do with government spending or wages. The Federal Reserve has said so many times.
The argument is wrong not only regarding the causes of inflation, but also regarding the supposed expansion of the welfare state.
Trump expanded the welfare state (due to Congressional Democrats) and was rewarded for it:
1. Created Pandemic Business Assistance (that won't be repayed);
2. For the first time actual small businesses were eligible for government help;
3. For the time time self-employed persons were eligible for either business assistance or unemployment insurance;
4. Expanded Unemployment insurance, for the first time created standard national/federal benefits;
5. Expanded Medicaid eligibility;
6. Gave out free vaccines and tests;
7. Expanded Obamacare eligibility and subsidies;
8. Expanded SNAP (food stamps) eligibility;
9. Improved SNAP (food stamps) benefits;
10. Sent out several Univeral Basic Income checks, first time that more than one check is issued (and they were issued directly to people instead of reducing taxes like Obama);
11. Established national Eviction Moratorium;
12. Expanded federal housing spending;
13. Expanded federal spending on childcare;
14. Expanded the Child Tax Credit;
15. Established the Student Loan Moratorium;
16. Expanded Internet Subsidies (Affordable Connectivity Program);
17. Subsidized state and local budgets.
Under Biden basically all of this was rolled back.
What Biden did was fund Industrial Policy.
He allowed 2 years to be wasted with idiotic negotiations with Sinema and Manchin. Both him and progressives are responsible for not wrapping up those negotiations as soon as it was clear that the "moderates" were negotiating in bad faith.
Yes there were substantive mistakes on some add on policies, like the ill designed electric vehicle incentive that can basically only be used by the upper middle class.
But Biden didn't achieve his proposed expansion of the welfare state. Not a single new benefit for ordinary people was created under Biden.
Trump and Republicans were incredibly smart in learning from the mistakes of Obama and the Great Recession.
It was Trump who spent and spent and Biden who cut and cut.
Republicans and Trump also made sure that as soon as Biden came into office all the benefits would start to expire.
What neoliberals are trying to do is rewrite history (again).
Neoliberal elites have almost no experience of the actual real economy, much less any lived experience of the welfare state as it actually works.
They cherry pick macroeconomic data like unemployment, GDP and the stock market, while downplaying consumer debt, auto loan purchases and defaults and the effects of interest rate rises on housing affordability and construction.
This is not done merely because of ignorance. They defend their class interests and the interests of economic actors they identify with and are funded by.
We now have a large coterie of mainly white male writers gaslighting Democrats about the state of the economy and misleading about economic and policy history while still claiming to be economic progressives.
Nice writing / a feel good piece. But this is reflective of the artificial complexity used to distract a busy population from core issues and the real sources of our seemingly unsolvable problems: unclear limits re the powers that presidents, judges, and legislatures have; the self-serving nature of political parties; the natural tendency of politicians to self-enrich; the observable fact that governments always want to get bigger, and exercise greater control over everyday activities. The roots of latent authoritarianism are present in all forms of government, and a democratic republic is just as susceptible as, say, a kingdom.
Excellent take, and it's universal to Western Civilisation right now. Pretending we're not in an existential crisis can only last so long. We might start to see civilisational collapse happen in the form of the establishment of parallel societies, mass fraud, undermining of our institutions by infiltration of Anti-western ideologies, terrorist attacks, and the formation of racially targeted child rape gangs. Be sure to look out for things like that and let me know if they start happening- they could be useful warning signs that civilisational collapse is underway...
I dont think Americans are cynical about politics, I think they are realistic. Its is indisputable that huge financial interests and lobbies have tremendous influence over politicians due to their campaign donations. I have heard a sitting senator say exactly this. These lobbies extend from AIPAC to big Pharma, big chemical, finance. There is even a lobbying group for lobbyists in DC now! Then there are the even more opaque and sinister lobbies. What does Soros and co. really want? What does the Omidyar money want? Who and why is behind the trans lobby that was promoting drag queen story hour for toddlers?
"The expiration of the expanded 2021 Child Tax Credit (CTC) in early 2022 sharply cut income for families with children—and left them much more pessimistic about the economy.
Each $1,000 in lost CTC benefits reduced consumer sentiment by about 1.7 points (2.4%), with the largest declines among lower-income families with three or more children.
These effects persisted through 2024 and extended beyond personal finances to households’ views of the broader economy and government policy."
This was excellent. It is worth noting, despite the inclination to put Trump in the center of every whirlwind, division has invaded much of the West.
Germany, the globe's 3rd largest economy, went from utter WWII defeat to a manufacturing miracle, in just a half century. Germans successfully reabsorbed East Germany, while producing Europe's wealthiest, most stable nation, with an enviable safety net.
And now, they are melting down in real time. Failed Energy and Immigration policy have produced a near 1/2 decade Recession. Europe's Golden Goose is in a coma, if not slain. Merz' 13% approval rating, has normally stoic, well behaved Germans channeling their inner Martin Luther. Half demand a full on Right Reformation, while the other half scream "racist".
Next door, Macron will end a decade of French rule with a 16% approval rating, 1% growth, and staggering debt. The lack of a proverbial Palace guillotine, his largest accomplishment. Macron will likely be followed by a woman long considered a political joke, wearing an ankle monitor.
Britain, rounding out the European Big 3, is now a former shell of itself. After 7 PMs in 10 years, per capita English income is lower than the poorest US state. The British Navy once ruled the World's seas. Now, English geriatrics patrol the Channel in kayaks, symbolically attempting to block migrant boats.
Europe has bright spots, Norway and Switzerland, but not many. Ironically, as Trump has US Dems discovering the Socialist within, much of liberal Europe is headed distinctly Right, if they are not already there.
The entire muck up could produce an epic SNL skit, if the world did not depend on the West for stability, growth and Enlightenment. Everywhere, Mass Migration and Energy are at the heart of the chaos. Until both questions are permanently answered, little is likely to improve, on either side of the Pond.
Astute points on immigration and energy. Thanks
Good points. Norway and Switzerland have a homogenous population, and Norway has oil. those will get you a long way.
Interesting that this analysis comes a few days after the anniversary of 9/11.
IMO much of American cynicism is driven by the increasing divide between the top education/income/asset 20% and the bottom 80%, which itself is driven by the loss of the 1945-75 American economic monopoly that built a middle class whose standard of living for semi-skilled work became disproportionate to its value in a global market.
9/11 cut across these class lines because it traumatized the capital of the top 20% and the people who died came from all income/education levels - bond traders, kitchen workers, first responders, executives, and everyone in between.
Almost every other adverse event since the end of WWII has impacted the bottom 80% far more than the top 20%, but since our leaders are invariably drawn from the top 20% they have either minimized the problems or affirmatively made them worse.
We won’t be unified until our leaders recognize that the lives of the bottom 80% and the top 20% have become fundamentally different and take steps to redistribute opportunity - not dollars or outcomes - in ways the 80% perceives as fair. That requires leaders who are not only ethical and honest but leaders (FDR) who are also willing to betray their own class interests.
AI might create that event, if our robot overlords permit us to survive long enough to experience it.
Good point, thanks.
One may want to point to a country that has a thriving economy and has done a good job of redistribution.
What country has succeeded in equally distributing individual opportunity to reach its top quintile in education, income and assets - not just redistributing wealth - through every segment of its population?
The solutions won't come from within the very parties that perpetuate this ongoing fiasco. They have made things this way on purpose, because it works well for them.
The internet has changed everything. We the People see less and less need to get our news from vested interests who push a narrative, not the news. Imagine what will happen when We the People see less and less need for the Democratic and Republican parties.
We could almost say we don't need a Congress to represent us. We can read, research and vote directly, online.
We can't possibly keep adequately informed to vote wisely on every issue.
What we can do is insist that state level decisions be made at the state level. DC has vastly overstepped its constitutional bounds, thanks to the two parties. My rough estimate is that 90% of Washington DC is unconstitutional.
Right about the 90% for sure!
You wrote, "deep distrust of public institutions and the belief that those who lead us are mostly selfish, greedy, dishonest, and incompetent."
Yes, but this is demonstrably true. Look at all the people who got elected to Congress with nothing and became millionaires. Look at Pelosi's stock performance, or Trump's crypto deals, or how ex-presidents Clinton and Obama went from merely well-off to filthy rich after leaving office. Look at the revolving door between appointed political officials and the media and "consulting" firms, or between regulatory industries and those appointed to regulate them.
We've always been a people skeptical of government ("Question Authority" might as well be the American motto), but things are ridiculous now to the point that no one even tries to hide that they're making as much money as possible. There's a sense from people like Pelosi and others that they somehow deserve it. That is anethema to the American ideal.
Did this stuff go on before, say, the 21st centurry? Sure. But there wasn't that sense of entitlement behind it that smacks of some people thinking they are a "ruling class" and deserve to be rewarded. These are the very attitudes we fought against in the Revolutionary War.
Bernie has done OK financially, also.
"ethical, patriotic leaders"
I was going to write a longer reply but I can't stop laughing at the idea of finding ethical anything in Washington.
Excellent paragraph but I would change Belief to Understanding.
Today, however, one of the defining features of public opinion is cynicism—deep distrust of public institutions and the belief that those who lead us are mostly selfish, greedy, dishonest, and incompetent.
We are in the Golden Age of Graft. While I am sure there are exceptions, the leadership class has proven themselves to be criminal. Change needs to come from outside the current pipelines.
Thinking about America (or the globe) as being in a cynical era makes a lot of sense.
However, it’s hard to believe that any political leader or political party can lead Americans or humanity out of this cynicism. (Although Rob Sand is trying)
Our cynicism is first a social challenge rather than a political challenge. It’s not just towards politicians and political parties. Civic membership is also down significantly and COVID accelerated that trend. Our suspicion (often justified!) of business, law, tech, media keeps increasing as practitioners are less and less likely to hold themselves to an ethical standard or consider the “right” way to ask, but just ask “is this illegal and will I get caught?”
To alleviate this cynicism will take acting and communicating in everyday spaces in ways that build connection, relationship, and trust. It’ll take people seeking role models for their ethics rather than just their success and material accumulation. And many, many more places with individuals rejecting their own cynicism to build something new. Once the social challenge is addressed then the political one can be dealt with.
"No more treating other Americans as enemies based on their vote preference or religion or regional background." Yes, and if we could treat our transgender fellow-Americans in the same respectful way, that'd be excellent! It's not okay to love everybody based on voting preferences but continue hating people whose decisions are none of our business because of "cultural issues."
This is another great post, but it's easy to flip the cynical/realist opposition: understanding that both Democrats and Republicans (going way back before Obama, Trump, and Biden) are in thrall to rich lobbyists and to never poking the bear that is the stock market is actually the realistic view. We tend to slide hard economic questions - how DO you raise wages without sending inflation even higher? - under the banners of values and patriotism when we need economic discipline instead: Americans don't want to leave overpriced stuff on the shelves to bring down prices - they want all their crap NOW, and when a politician can't wave a magic wand and make it happen, he's out with the next election.
But you're absolutely right that both parties need to get together and stop writing laws to make rich lobbyists happy. They probably never will (there's some cynicism 😉), but your plan is spot-on. Thank you as always!
Any incumbent or challenger does not control of the messaging to be table to not be seen as hypocritical and thus, reinforcing the cynicism.
The U.S. has not gone three election cycles with no effect communicator running in the general election for president. The result is that Trump is at a huge advantage due to the "just Trump being Trump" treatment.
America spends a lot of time wishing for political parties and politicians that are altruistic. The problem is American individualism has calcified throughout much of the culture. Sure, there are exceptions, groups of outliers, but a deep examination reveals we are self interested in the extreme. Why would our representatives be vastly different?
In so many ways, the cynicism we see is a reasonable and expected reaction to institutions and people that represent us. Politicians and their parties are the trees, and American culture is the forest.
Individualism, money, special interest groups, and increasingly propagandistic digital ecosystems make cynicism an appropriate frame of mind. Is it possible to change American culture and DNA?
The debate over the future of Democrats has neoliberal elites arguing mainly this: Biden caused inflation by pursuing the expansion of the welfare state and this loss is therefore self-inflicted and caused by progressive ideas.
The neoliberals overemphasize government spending and wage increases as causes for inflation, while they minimize supply chain issues, agricultural prices, corporate profits and the cascading effects of increases in federal interest rates on things like mortgages, auto loans and credit cards.
Who is right? More than half of inflation had nothing to do with government spending or wages. The Federal Reserve has said so many times.
The argument is wrong not only regarding the causes of inflation, but also regarding the supposed expansion of the welfare state.
Trump expanded the welfare state (due to Congressional Democrats) and was rewarded for it:
1. Created Pandemic Business Assistance (that won't be repayed);
2. For the first time actual small businesses were eligible for government help;
3. For the time time self-employed persons were eligible for either business assistance or unemployment insurance;
4. Expanded Unemployment insurance, for the first time created standard national/federal benefits;
5. Expanded Medicaid eligibility;
6. Gave out free vaccines and tests;
7. Expanded Obamacare eligibility and subsidies;
8. Expanded SNAP (food stamps) eligibility;
9. Improved SNAP (food stamps) benefits;
10. Sent out several Univeral Basic Income checks, first time that more than one check is issued (and they were issued directly to people instead of reducing taxes like Obama);
11. Established national Eviction Moratorium;
12. Expanded federal housing spending;
13. Expanded federal spending on childcare;
14. Expanded the Child Tax Credit;
15. Established the Student Loan Moratorium;
16. Expanded Internet Subsidies (Affordable Connectivity Program);
17. Subsidized state and local budgets.
Under Biden basically all of this was rolled back.
What Biden did was fund Industrial Policy.
He allowed 2 years to be wasted with idiotic negotiations with Sinema and Manchin. Both him and progressives are responsible for not wrapping up those negotiations as soon as it was clear that the "moderates" were negotiating in bad faith.
Yes there were substantive mistakes on some add on policies, like the ill designed electric vehicle incentive that can basically only be used by the upper middle class.
But Biden didn't achieve his proposed expansion of the welfare state. Not a single new benefit for ordinary people was created under Biden.
Trump and Republicans were incredibly smart in learning from the mistakes of Obama and the Great Recession.
It was Trump who spent and spent and Biden who cut and cut.
Republicans and Trump also made sure that as soon as Biden came into office all the benefits would start to expire.
What neoliberals are trying to do is rewrite history (again).
Neoliberal elites have almost no experience of the actual real economy, much less any lived experience of the welfare state as it actually works.
They cherry pick macroeconomic data like unemployment, GDP and the stock market, while downplaying consumer debt, auto loan purchases and defaults and the effects of interest rate rises on housing affordability and construction.
This is not done merely because of ignorance. They defend their class interests and the interests of economic actors they identify with and are funded by.
We now have a large coterie of mainly white male writers gaslighting Democrats about the state of the economy and misleading about economic and policy history while still claiming to be economic progressives.
Nice writing / a feel good piece. But this is reflective of the artificial complexity used to distract a busy population from core issues and the real sources of our seemingly unsolvable problems: unclear limits re the powers that presidents, judges, and legislatures have; the self-serving nature of political parties; the natural tendency of politicians to self-enrich; the observable fact that governments always want to get bigger, and exercise greater control over everyday activities. The roots of latent authoritarianism are present in all forms of government, and a democratic republic is just as susceptible as, say, a kingdom.
Excellent take, and it's universal to Western Civilisation right now. Pretending we're not in an existential crisis can only last so long. We might start to see civilisational collapse happen in the form of the establishment of parallel societies, mass fraud, undermining of our institutions by infiltration of Anti-western ideologies, terrorist attacks, and the formation of racially targeted child rape gangs. Be sure to look out for things like that and let me know if they start happening- they could be useful warning signs that civilisational collapse is underway...
https://rollcall.com/2026/09/15/democratic-group-lays-out-environmental-economic-roadmap/
More platitudes coming from the "center".
I dont think Americans are cynical about politics, I think they are realistic. Its is indisputable that huge financial interests and lobbies have tremendous influence over politicians due to their campaign donations. I have heard a sitting senator say exactly this. These lobbies extend from AIPAC to big Pharma, big chemical, finance. There is even a lobbying group for lobbyists in DC now! Then there are the even more opaque and sinister lobbies. What does Soros and co. really want? What does the Omidyar money want? Who and why is behind the trans lobby that was promoting drag queen story hour for toddlers?
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/expanded-child-tax-credit-economic-sentiment/?utm_campaign=Economic+Studies+Bulletin&utm_medium=email&utm_content=436217384&utm_source=hs_email&fbclid=IwY2xjawUE7fZwZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAGJyaWQRMTVvYlZRS1RtU2YwZVcwQXhzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEewsKNBudp736RdawuiOnQQ9xhsGBnOeRnv3QUUsl5v8hRVX8QpbcpHR8R53s_aem_Jp1RdJA2m0V1FxQkNa4U9w
"The expiration of the expanded 2021 Child Tax Credit (CTC) in early 2022 sharply cut income for families with children—and left them much more pessimistic about the economy.
Each $1,000 in lost CTC benefits reduced consumer sentiment by about 1.7 points (2.4%), with the largest declines among lower-income families with three or more children.
These effects persisted through 2024 and extended beyond personal finances to households’ views of the broader economy and government policy."