POLITICAL DYSFUNCTION IN WASHINGTON D.C.

A power vaccum has fueled frustration and created an entirely new breed of disenfranchised voters who are fed up with the status quo. They believe politicians in Washington pay more attention to special interests groups and powerful lobbyists writing checks to their next campaigns than listening to the people back home who sent them to Washington in the first place. These are real people, their anger is palpable, and it’s not going away anytime soon.

People across America are angry, frustrated, and scared because they feel as though Washington is not listening to them. A growing number of Americans are more motivated by this feeling of frustration than any individual political ideology. The rise of career politicians has completely shifted the political paradigm from just liberal versus conservative. There is now a disconnect between the Washington political class and everybody else—the insiders versus the outsiders.

When most Americans look at the federal government, all they see is years of failed policies that have made life harder for them and their families, and a political class that is well connected and uninterested in giving them a say in how to right the ship. Both major political party organizations, staffed with non-elected bureaucrats living on salaries derived from political contributions, shamelessly pursue policies designed to generate the most money and power for the party in the short term. Neither party organization supports the best interests of the country as a whole. The American people are increasingly waking up to the fact that nothing ever seems to change in Washington D.C. no matter which political party is in power. 53 percent of all Americans believe that neither party “represents the American people”.  Over the past several decades, American voters have sent a Bush, a Clinton, another Bush and an Obama to the White House, but the policies coming out of Washington have remained pretty much the same the entire time.  And behind the scenes, Republicans and Democrats have a good time with one another and they are ultimately controlled by the same set of oligarchs.  The Americans people are really starting to recognize what a sham the system has become, and the numbers show that they are quite fed up with it.

People are still hurting, and they are weary of Washington’s penchant for business as usual. In state after state this year, voters have voiced support for presidential candidates who are not part of the political class.

This is a growing movement, and it is bigger than any one candidate or election victory. Unless the political establishment is willing to learn from the anger felt by millions of Americans who feel left behind, this will not end in November.

True to form, though, political elites prefer tearing down individuals to understanding what created this movement. This movement of Americans wants nothing to do with Washington, and neither endorsements nor criticisms are going to change that.