Hopelessly Divided

Book excerpt: Just in time for the 2012 election, Douglas E. Schoen, one of America’s preeminent political pundits, analyzes the growing chasm between the political class—politicians, lobbyists, fundraisers, consultants—and the American Mainstream, frustrated with government’s inability to address the major issues affecting their lives. This gap has given rise to populist movements on the right and the left and driven our two-party system to the brink of possible collapse—in ways that have never been fully discussed or articulated.