From a voter’s perspective, below are characteristics of today's political landscape loosely organized from left to right:

• Narrow, exclusive, insular, condescending.
• --- ---
• Stodgy, conventional, predictable, opportunistic.
• Libertarian, rhetorical, nationalistic, arbitrary.
• Divisive, authoritarian, imperious, intolerant.

From the presumption that ‘for the people’ is ‘by the people’ to the misguided belief that we can and should time travel to a misremembered past, over the last 60 years our leaders have consistently delivered injudicious, bureaucratic preservation to a majority of Americans.

This majority of Americans have fallen through a hole between condescending and stodgy. Other countries have managed to fill that hole, but in our ignorance, for varying reasons, we have not only not taken care of our own but in many cases deny them as a part of us.

It is not only the obvious; anyone less wealthy and/or less powerful is (to varying degrees) lost. And it is apparent that the American Dream, paired with any combination of choices we are given in today’s political landscape, no longer works for anyone who is lost.

Many of these lost Americans don’t realize and/or won’t admit that they are lost. Many of these lost Americans believe they have more influence, more say-so, than what they do. Many of these lost Americans are still optimistic, still hopeful, still susceptible. Most of these lost Americans pick their path from the choices given, often based on a single (often emotional) characteristic. Many of these lost Americans don’t know that there can and should be additional options between condescending and stodgy; options more complementary with the American Dream. Things like:

• Understanding, expressive, equitable, reciprocal.
• Helpful, considerate, compassionate, respectful,

Taxidermy: “the art of preparing and preserving and stuffing and mounting in lifelike form.”

Today our political system is the hunter, our leaders are the taxidermists busy preparing, preserving, stuffing and mounting, and the American Dream is the head mounted on the wall.

If instead our leaders would be caretakers, custodians, curators, watchdogs, perhaps the American Dream would come alive for more Americans.