"There are signs that significant numbers on the Left are disaffected in the same way we see in the Trump upsurge." Face it, voters are equally disaffected.

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COMMENTS: 
*  The war on Hillary is nothing more than more dirty Republican politics and sooner or later Americans are going to see that.
*  People are tired of politicians on both sides of the aisle. There is seldom an argument that is strictly one sided yet the two sides refuse to come together for the good of the people and the country. Right now there is not a single politician in it for anything more than an easy job, great retirement after little service and legacy/kingdom building because they know the voting public won't do anything to change. Well, maybe change is finally coming so I would suggest both sides take a hard look at themselves and why they are in Washington and what they need to do from here on out.
*  This article is accurate, there is deep dissatisfaction with the entire political process. It has been hijacked by big money and big corporations. This is not a Repub\Dem issue, this is at the very heart of our Nation. The extremists on either side have infuriated the average voter, and they are angry enough to start taking to the streets. It is now a question of will our government listen to us or the corporations. This could be the turning point in our Nation's history and the grand test of democracy (Our Country is now an Olgarchy.
*  ... I see the opposite, the Republicans not only have a grip on the Country as a whole, they have the money to not only affect the mindset of the people, but are working behind the scenes, changing the very statutes that make up this Country. i am conservative at heart, but I am afraid of the extremists on the right - and the left.
*  The only way you are going to change something is if you change the professional politicians who are in office. The only way you can do that is to vote them out of office. But too many people are wrapped tightly around the "party". You have to be willing to vote for the other party in order to get the other person out of office and then vote for the other party in the next election as well.
   *  True enough---but no matter who you send, the money and special interests will be waiting. Politicians will generally chose money and perks over doing what's right for the people.
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Trump and the Testing Opt-Outs: Listen Carefully Republicans and Democrats
By Richard Brodsky, August 17, 2015

There's much chortling and winking on the Left these days. "How about Trump?", "Yo, the Donald", "Can you believe he's ahead?" etc. And indeed the Republicans have a problem. Trump is the face of the problem, but the deeper issue is a Republican primary electorate that is way hostile to politics as practiced by Republican candidates. With continuing missteps, nominee Trump ain't impossible. And some kind of third-party outbreak is also possible if rank-and-file disaffection continues to grow.

It's been easy for Democrats to sit back and laugh. But Dems would be better served by a healthy dose of introspection. There are signs that significant numbers on the Left are disaffected in the same way we see in the Trump upsurge. It's not just Bernie Sanders, it's about issues and the failure of Democratic candidates to heed rank-and-file anger.

The evidence of Democratic disaffection runs to specific angers about policing, womens rights and more. It may be easiest to see the political future in the rebellion of public school parents with respect to high stakes standardized testing. In New York for example over twenty percent of parents have pulled their kids from the required standardized tests. Not just wealthy elite types but working class upstaters and mixed urban districts showed substantial refusal rates. The "opt-out" movement is an organic, deeply felt rejection of institutional truisms in education as powerful in its own way as the Trumpists rejection of Bush/Rand/Rubio etc. It hasn't yet expressed itself in politics. But it's a sign of dissatisfaction with the status quo that will inevitably show up in the electoral process.

In fact, American voters are deeply troubled by increasingly sclerotic and out-of-touch political and economic systems. If one is willing to listen to all this, there's a Left/Right convergence of anger about the concentration of wealth and power, about corporations dominating democratic institutions, and public officials more beholden to monied interests than to voters or ideas.

A Bush v Clinton election seems an inevitable precursor to this intensifying anomie and disaffection. Both are decent and intelligent conventional pols. Neither is going to disturb much in the way of redistributing wealth and power. There is no visible American politician who has the insight and skill to speak for a renewed American politics. But it's coming, sooner or later.
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