Independent is the new Blue Dog

And so, maybe gridlock eases a bit as reactionary but not crazytown Republicans and corporatist Democrats get elected in Red and Purple States as Independents, but only by moving partisan politics to the right, even though majorities disapprove of and are actively harmed by this shift, largely because the House and Senate are inherently non-representative of the reality of an urban rather than rural populace, all this encouraging apathy among majorities and the usual useless separatist self-marginalizing noises from intellectuals, further consolidating plutocratic capture of governance, ensuring in turn that parochial profit taking remains the order of the day until climate catastrophe and global unrest overwhelm institutions fatally... ugh, I'm going to go lick a tootsie-pop.