The Politics of Crazy: How America Lost Its Mind and What We Can Do About It

Each generation of Americans faces unique challenges in their effort to create ‘a more perfect union.’ Those who came before us wrestled with slavery, expansion, industrialization, global wars and a long, frightening nuclear standoff. Now, the great challenge of our time is our own diminished attention span. For reasons we are struggling to understand, our political system has been swamped by bizarre characters, conspiracy theories, and paranoia.

Communism is dead. No enemy on the planet is capable of challenging us militarily, culturally, or politically. Global capitalism and liberal democracy are sweeping the globe. America is the most powerful, influential and prosperous nation not only in our time, but in history. We have inherited wealth and power beyond the wildest dreams of our forebears. So far, our response has been the political version of a nervous breakdown.

Americans are as smart, responsible and generally good as they have ever been, yet our politics is careening out of control. The Politics of Crazy is an effort to explain the forces that have undermined responsible, responsive politics and point the way toward a more solid future.