In the scramble to make sense out of the present election cycle, analysts have come up with all sorts of theories. One popular explanation claims that people are hardening in their positions. On the left and the right, all parties are holding rigidly to their agendas, forcing their will upon the rest of the nation making it difficult to get things done. Thus, people claim the only solution is to smash through all the rigid agendas and just do whatever it takes to get things done, even if it offends traditional orthodoxies. No option is off the table -- not even socialism. Some interpret these hardball tactics as the divisive and inflexible product of the nation’s polarization. Ironically, it actually represents a crumbling of certainties. One of the certainties at risk is the American consensus that has long been in place by which people generally agreed to follow some rules to pursue happiness around a general prosperity. It is a very practical model and is responsible...(Read Full Article)