I've long since become convinced that the only way to get elected in this country is to spend a shit-ton of money. The people who have shit-tons of money vote Republican. So if you want to run as a Democrat, you either have to roll up a lot of quarters or do the Democrat-lite shit that rich liberals want.

And then Bernie Sanders came along, with his rolls and rolls and rolls of quarters, and they said "fuck him anyway."

I think that gets mirrored in our political system. When we want something good, we have the belief that the goodness of that thing is enough - that it has tangible value. The people who don't believe that, the ones who believe dollars have tangible value, are the ones who are right and the ones who get into the positions as gatekeepers.

More than ten years ago, Jon Stewart argued that politics is dominated by the extremes because the moderates have better shit to do with their time. I know my wife's business (delivering babies) is awash in zealots and true believers that burn out after two, three years tops. The problem is, if you're trying to make a living you've got to trip over these people who think they don't until they wise up and fuck off.