Politics is Team sport

Politics for people like you and I is about what we're allowed to do with our own bodies, the quality of the food we eat, and roads we drive on in the cars we're allowed to buy. For us, a good election could be the difference between book bans and a halfway decent education; but for the politicians, it's simply about who's turn it is on the game.

It's not coincidence that the more relevant a position, the more likely it is to be held by an older person. Boomers have been politely trading power between themselves as long as nobody did anything too drastic. A Republican or a Torie or what have you gets elected, they skim a little off the top, and to appease their hysterical voter base they kill a few minorities. Then a centrist do-nothing liberal takes power in a respectful and cordial election who does nothing substantial. This continues until some populist decides not to play nice and runs with actual policies (self serving or otherwise).

"So if populists get elected, why don't the liberals adopt some of their strategies?" Great question!

The answer is because liberals don't give a damn about being elected.

Conservatives will never pass resolutions to confiscate wealth, crack down on government corruption, or decrease wealth inequality. The liberal politician lives in a gated, gentrified community. They do not pay rent, they collect it. They do not eat our food, they eat out. They do not receive public education, their children use private. The boomer liberal politician does not care about the country he is allegedly governing because He does not live in it.

You will never see passion or fire in an old politicians (most of them) voice because to him, politics is a game that really isn't worth getting upset about. Even as Trump and his cronies reave the United States of anything valuable, the opposition stands silent because they Don't Care. They will have their turn later, and they won't even fix anything this administration is breaking because they don't need to.

The current American political system is an gerontocracy that uses the rest of us as pawns at best, resources most of the time, and expendable resources at worst.