This problem is magnified by the extreme powers we have handed the president. Rather than installing a representative of the whole nation, with the unilateral authority the modern chief executive now possesses, we elect a person who clearly has taken sides with certain factions of society over others.
No, there is nothing restorative about this. The modern presidency, with its overgrown power and the endless power struggles to acquire it, has sickened our body politic.
What can we do about this? I have spent much of the last several years thinking about institutional reforms that could improve the nomination process. But lately I have been wondering whether either side even wants that at all. The anger boiling on the left at Donald Trump reminds me of the anger that boiled on the right at Barack Obama four years ago. Maybe both sides just wish to take vicarious enjoyment in the splenetic partisanship that is on display during the very lengthy primary season. They want somebody to really stick it to that guy!
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