You have just experienced a reasonably important election, whatever the outcome.  That said, I personally have been dismayed at the ugliness of political discourse this election (for instance, the resurgent racism), and appalled at the lack of attention to policy substance in the mainstream media.  Tocqueville would likely be feeling perverse pride right now:  that political culture in the United States has moved forward precisely the way he predicted in the 1830s.  I confess I remain astounded how many people I have been speaking with about politics -- strangers I randomly encounter in everyday life -- who don’t seem to think through any policy issues whatsoever, beyond some inane sloganeering at most.

Tocqueville ended up describing Americans as simultaneously “independent and powerless” -- what are your thoughts about such a paradox in the present day?....