B ernie Sanders and Donald Trump together are likely to end this primary season with a majority of all votes cast. Add the votes for Republican bad boy Ted Cruz, and the vote total for anti-establishment candidates may reach 60 percent. This represents a stunning repudiation of the existing political leadership in America. I can’t pretend to know who will be elected president of the United States this November. But I’m convinced that the voter rebellions, both left and right, suggest deep changes in our political culture.
We’re in a populist moment. Distrust of our ruling class, ruling paradigms, and ruling ideas drives our politics. This distrust undoubtedly has many sources. Sanders gains traction when he accuses Hillary Clinton of being bought and paid for by Goldman Sachs. Trump’s supporters are thrilled when he swipes at the political class as clueless and incompetent. We need to shift, however, from particular politicians to larger forces at work, allowing us to see that populist distrust has systemic sources.
