Let's return to the difference between the oversimplified Flatland views of election dynamics and the more complete 3D-Land approach. There's a useful analogy to medical diagnosis: X-rays are great for diagnosing a broken bone, but three- dimensional MRIs can diagnose many brain and nervous system disorders, soft tissue and joint injuries, and cardiovascular disorders invisible to X-rays and earlier diagnostic approaches. When we use the wrong tools, we might not just fail to diagnose an illness — we might misdiagnose it, and prescribe a treatment actively harmful to the patient. When Flatland analysts argue America “moved right,” the prescription tends to be Democrats should also move right, or at least play nice with Trump to avoid alienating the Americans who supposedly granted him a decisive mandate. The same prescription will be dispensed to civil society and the media. But that diagnosis completely misses the life-threatening illness America is really struggling with: a billionaire-captured system doesn’t work for most people, and justifiable disaffection and anger at this system. Americans are fed up, and people are perpetually in the mood to throw the bums out, whoever the bums in charge are. But with only two parties to realistically choose from — plus an illegitimate Electoral College that makes most Americans’ presidential votes irrelevant — all of these “change elections” add up to little more than a seesaw most Americans don’t want to ride in the first place.

Let's return to the difference between the oversimplified Flatland views of election dynamics and the more complete 3D-Land approach. There's a useful analogy to medical diagnosis: X-rays are great for diagnosing a broken bone, but three- dimensional MRIs can diagnose many brain and nervous system disorders, soft tissue and joint injuries, and cardiovascular disorders invisible to X-rays and earlier diagnostic approaches. When we use the wrong tools, we might not just fail to diagnose an illness — we might misdiagnose it, and prescribe a treatment actively harmful to the patient. When Flatland analysts argue America “moved right,” the prescription tends to be Democrats should also move right, or at least play nice with Trump to avoid alienating the Americans who supposedly granted him a decisive mandate. The same prescription will be dispensed to civil society and the media. But that diagnosis completely misses the life-threatening illness America is really struggling with: a billionaire-captured system doesn’t work for most people, and justifiable disaffection and anger at this system. Americans are fed up, and people are perpetually in the mood to throw the bums out, whoever the bums in charge are. But with only two parties to realistically choose from — plus an illegitimate Electoral College that makes most Americans’ presidential votes irrelevant — all of these “change elections” add up to little more than a seesaw most Americans don’t want to ride in the first place.
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