Why Our Broken Political System Falls Prey to Right-Wing Extremism

By Lynn Parramore and Thomas Ferguson, New Deal 2.0
Posted on April 12, 2011, Printed on April 13, 2011
http://www.alternet.org/story/150589/why_our_broken_political_system_falls_prey_to_right-wing_extremism

Lynn Parramore caught up with Roosevelt Institute Senior Fellow Thomas Ferguson at the annual INET conference in Bretton Woods. Ferguson, father of the Investment Theory of Politics, explains why polarization has completely gripped Washington — and why the New Deal is getting rolled back in the process.

Lynn Parramore: What’s polarization in politics and how did it start?

Thomas Ferguson: Polarization is a sharp intensification of divisions between the major political parties. The tensions between them now run through the entire system, including the Supreme Court and state and local governments. Congressional polarization is the most visible form right now and surely a key link in the whole process. Both national parties have spent enormous amounts of time and money painting each other in the worst possible terms — to the point that some Republicans have repeatedly cast aspersions on the patriotism of the Democrats.