Democracies of Unfreedom: The United States and India

We live in a time when on a basic level politics is broken. In growing numbers, people have lost faith in the political process and don't see how it can help their threatened economic circumstances. ( Associated Press, 1995a: 1A)

The political process, as Bradley put it, "is fundamentally disconnected from the lives of these millions of Americans" (quoted by Broder, 1995: 10B). Sen. Sam Nunn was even blunter when he spoke to Judy Woodruff on CNN's Inside Politics:

There's too much money. There is too much negative advertising. There are too many slick consultants. There's too much of a horse-race mentality in the media coverage. All of that's got to change or we will likely have a third party. (Quoted by Broder, 1995: 10B)

A third party is no panacea to the malignant politics. Demosclerosis ( Rauch, 1994) is the outcome of a declining nation ( Olson, 1982). Both Colin Powell and Ross Perot represent the decadence of an outdated corporate-military complex that has lost its compass. People, in general, live an existence that is unrelated to the purpose of a responsible society. The politics of being thus reflects the existential anxiety of a generation that is still in quest of a pupose in society.

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