of the contemporary American political system contributes to voter discontent, how that has driven the sharp swings in recent elections, the current state of voter attitudes, and future prospects and consequences. The root causes of voter discontent, except in so far as those discontents are rooted in the political process itself, lies outside the scope of this essay; volumes have been and will be written about the economic and social reasons that Americans have for their unease and dissatisfaction. What is relevant here is that if the political process is seen as incapable of dealing with those underlying factors, confidence in the political system will continue to erode.
By the early 1990s, voters had in fact a great deal to be frustrated about. Stagnant wages, rising inequality, crime, racial tensions, and a sense of general social disorder all had contributed to a widespread sense of national decline since at least the 1970s (McWilliams, 1995, p. 1). Moreover, and immediately relevant to this discussion, the political system as a whole seemed to be unresponsive, and its workings all but incomprehensible. The public debate appeared to generate a gread deal of heat but very little light; the traffic analogy of "gridlock" became a standard term in public discourse, a term conveying a sense that the political process was incapable of solving problems or even of taking action of any sort.
One factor that political scientists have identified as a cause of voter discontent is the byzantine complexity and obscurity of the contemporary political structure.
Government policies are made in response to a greater
number and variety of conflicting and substantially independent interest groups. However, political institutions for encouraging these conflicting interest groups to negotiate not only with one another but also
with political actors who are more representative of
the general public, in search of ...