The Political Bent of American Politics.

I have the distinct impression that we are in the midst of a new paradigm shift: the country swung too far to the left, bounced back in a healthy way to the right, but now seems to have settled—perhaps permanently—in the middle.  Any real progress will require at least some compromise with the political left.

Some of this comes from the top.  Even though Trump is firmly on the right when it comes to social issues—which seem to dominate public attention right now, since few people appear to care about fiscal conservatism—he is still a big spender, and the country doesn't seem to mind.  Trump often talks about cutting spending, but we've seen very little progress.

The problem is that this situation is not sustainable.  I'm expecting a disaster at any moment.  We are going so far into debt that, sooner or later, fiscal reality is going to hit us hard.  Eventually, we'll have no choice but to cut spending.  It would be far better to start addressing this now rather than keep kicking the can down the road.