Consider this: unemployment is below five percent; inflation is essentially non-existent; the price of gas is down; the deficit has been cut in half from its recessionary high; and we are not engaged in a large scale ground war anywhere in the world. In spite of that, both the right and the left are bitterly dissatisfied with the status quo, as evidenced by the successes of the Trump, Cruz, and Sanders campaigns. Why?
I would suggest three reasons:
1. Part of American exceptionalism is the naive belief that everyone’s life in our country is always destined to get better simply by virtue of the superiority of our system. This view is held by both the right and the left. As a result, any suggestion that things could actually get worse for some substantial number of our citizens will be resisted forcefully.
2. The white working class is, in fact, being left behind. Neither the right nor the left has had a workable answer for this, so both are looking for scapegoats. In the case of the right, it is illegal immigrants and inept and corrupt Washington politicians; for the left, it is greedy Wall Street bankers.
3. Both sides put more value on their losses than their gains. The right has succeeded in reducing discretionary federal spending, as a proportion of the budget and GDP, to levels not seen in 50 years, but it sees itself primarily as the loser of the culture wars. The left, for its part, disregards its culture war victories and focuses primarily on increasing economic inequality.