How a too-strong presidency and a too-weak Congress are destroying the American experiment

[Zorro]

The United States is a divided nation: There is Redland, where Donald Trump won among exurban non-college educated whites, and Blueland, home to diverse city and coastal cosmopolitans, where Hillary Clinton triumphed. Voters in these two lands have fundamentally different views about what it means to be an American, and they increasingly view their fellow citizens as enemies.

Our political system, which requires compromise and collaboration, is not set up to handle such profound differences. Worse, our current political rules are exacerbating and reinforcing them.

The primary amplifier of division is the ever-expanding power of the presidency, on top of a winner-take-all electoral system. In our form of government, especially as it evolved in the 20th century, the president is the focal point. When the population splits into two polarized tribes, organizing politics around a winner-take-all structure focused on a single person only deepens the divide.

We saw it with Barack Obama. Many residents of Redland felt he could not possibly be their president, and they did all they could to de-legitimize him. Now the same thing is happening with Bluelanders and Trump.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-drutman-can-our-institutions-survive-our-divided-politics-20170305-story.html

[Merlot]

1. No, de-ligitimizing Obama is not the same

Stop with the stupid both sides of the story thing. Obama won both of his elections with a wide margin. repubs made up lies to de-ligitmize him. trumptf lost the popular vote and has a lot of people saying he's not up for the job and may not be mentally sound.

We saw it with Barack Obama. Many residents of Redland felt he could not possibly be their president, and they did all they could to de-legitimize him. Now the same thing is happening with Bluelanders and Trump.

Not the same thing at all.