As most of my dealings with life, my view on politics is shaped by my study of Classical civilization. This knowledge leads me to the conclusion that there really is nothing new under the sun; the only change in the political landscape between 2500 years ago and now is exactly what technology we're using to promote or fight our viewpoints. In light of all the political posts and dismay over the political landscape, herein are the words Thucydides wrote at the tail end of the 5th century BCE, in a reported speech by Cleon:

You have become regular speech-goers, and as for action, you merely listen to accounts of it; if something is to be done in the future, you estimate the possibilities by hearing a good speech on the subject, and as for the past you rely not so much on the facts which you have seen with your own eyes as on what you have heard about them in some clever piece of verbal criticism. Any novelty in an argument deceives you at once, but when the argument is tried and proved you become unwilling to follow it; you look with suspicion on what is normal and are slaves of every paradox that comes your way. The chief wish of each one of you is to be able to make a speech himself, and, if you cannot do that, the next best thing is to compete with those who can make this sort of speech by not looking as though you were at all out of your depth while you listen to the views put forward, by applauding a good point even before it is made, and by being as quick at seeing how an argument is going to be developed as you are slow at understanding what in the end it will lead to. What you are looking for all the time is something that is, I should say, outside the range of ordinary experience, and yet you cannot even think straight about the facts of life that are before you. You are simply victims of your own pleasure in listening, and are more like an audience sitting at the feet of a professional lecturer than a parliament discussing matters of state.

~Book 3.38

I, too, am guilty of all of this. But I recognize that until a conscious, collective effort is taken to change this, we will slip ever towards the schism that has broken every election-based civilization before our own. So this is at once a clarion to pay attention and a pledge to be a better, more active citizen of this nation. If in the next year, in the next four years nothing has changed about my political involvement, I too will be fully deserving of this censure.