The Hill News

The extreme extent to which politicians are willing to go in the political game of chicken they are playing with the public goodâ€"from the hardened, absolutist positions in the negotiations over the U.S. debt ceiling to the nasty budget battles gripping some state governments (most recently in Minnesota)â€"suggests that the gridlock gripping our political system is a more virulent form than the gridlock of the past. How has our democracy come to this? 

While some may wish to blame our current crop of politicians or argue that it is the media’s fault for polarizing politics so, a more complete explanation is found in the current condition of elections in the U.S.  Elections are critical to provide the one factor that can resolve political conflictâ€"legitimacy for the policy positions politicians takeâ€"and they fail miserably at doing so.

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