Imagine for a moment an election where the Republican Party put forth a reasonably sane candidate as their nominee in 2016: a John Kasich or a Jeb Bush, for example. Someone with a fairly successful track record as governor who could reach across the aisle and work with political opponents to get things done. Someone who didn’t use divisive, incendiary rhetoric to pit different groups of people against one another. Or someone like Rand Paul, who took principled stands against his own party and government based on deeply held beliefs. Imagine for a moment an election where the Democratic Party didn’t rig their primary with 700 superdelegates: unelected, appointed party apparatchiks who individually held more power than thousands of voters. An election where the Democratic National Committee and its allies in the media didn’t conspire against Bernie Sanders and his voters, per the recent Wikileaks releases. Imagine an election where the two candidates could have illuminating debates about different policies and approaches to governance. Imagine an election where the primary strategy wasn’t personal attacks, smear campaigns and divide and conquer stratagems. Imagine an election where people at political rallies didn’t get assaulted, and where campaign headquarters didn’t get firebombed. It was possible, but it didn’t happen. Why? Because the older generations still control United States politics, and they have almost destroyed it in the process.
