A big part of the solution would be to stop giving equal voice and air time to fundamentalists. Because many of the democratic institutions, like the press, are privately owned now, there's more of an interest in sensationalism and profit making than conveying information that's crucial for democracy to function. So they will televise extremism because it shocks.
Rightists and leftists are a big problem right now, but it started with rightists. Please note I am not condemning the entire right wing, I'm condemning the extremist factions. Rightist populism has caused leftist reactionism, and the pendulum swings ever wider.
This seems like a manufactured problem. Cut the domestic job sector, decrease education, export wealth, and you're left with a disenfranchised population that is ripe for a populist politician to come in and start upsetting the whole system. I'm sorry, but this really did start with the GOP, all the way back to Nixon. Policy after policy squeezed the middle class into the situation they're in now, in order to increase obscene profits of the wealthy. The Dems are certainly partaking in the buffet, but they didn't create it. They reacted with more social spending. It's why the GOP, although distant from Trump, still ultimately support him. In many ways he still tows the line, even if he's wacko.
The original leak was never plugged. It was expanded and continually explained away. Now we have populism and rightism, which is always a consequence of people becoming more poor and more uneducated. When the Nazi Party took power in Germany, they did so because Europe had economically punished the German people into a miserable existence, and that made the concerns of every day people an easy selling point for Hitler. He rose to power, not because of his philosophy that led to the Final Solution, but because people believed he could bolster the economy. And he did... through war and divisive politics.
It's too late to turn back the clock now IMO. We are already on a collision course with a full on rightist government. It's just a matter of time before the Supreme Court is compromised.
This could've all been remedied by keeping the resources of America for all Americans.... keeping education cheap, keeping the labor sector robust. Instead, idealogues got in there who thought "why should we pay for somebody else" as a means to pilfer and horde a robust consumer middle class. Now nobody has anything and they're turning to heir fuhrer to go after imaginary culprits.
When the People are stressed to the max with daily living, they become fearful, and this makes them stupid. All it takes is a demagogue to start pointing the finger at a straw man and everyone gets on board. The mid-terms have proven we are on a collision course. No doubt about it.
