I saw this from Amy Walter at the Cook Political Report and laughed. “But in this era of deep and hardened partisanship, real world events don’t have the political impact that they once did, with voters more willing than ever to look past the sins of their team, while also refusing to acknowledge anything the opposing team has done to improve their lives. As one GOP strategist said to me at the beginning of this cycle: at election time, everyone just throws on their jersey.”

Americans have been conditioned to see themselves as political sports fans belonging to team blue or team red, with corresponding jersey’s. This is ironic since the Republicans and Democrats enact similar economic and foreign policies that have made life worse for average Americans no matter which team is in power. Elections can be consequential but only if they reflect what voters desire, instead of a choice between two oligarchic and war political parties, where no matter who you vote for you get John MacCain.

When it comes to the economy both teams promote neoliberal capitalism, now that the “new” Democrats have abandoned the New Deal programs where capitalism existed alongside strong government, organized labor, robust public infrastructure and regulations on corporate behavior. It was constrained by institutions that prevented economic power from being entirely concentrated in the hands of the oligarchy.

Neoliberalism changed that. Since at least Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, governments promoted privatization, deregulation, shattered trade unions, financialization and the ideology that markets should organize all aspects of our lives by undermining government. Team red has this down to a science where they run on government-bad, then in office make government-bad, but the Democrats are a quick study.

The result is a financialized, extractive economy rather than a productive one, that’s increasingly focused on speculation rather than on creating the goods, services and public infrastructure that make American’s lives better. The consequences are inequality, a failing real economy, failing public services, financial instability and growing political anger.

It’s the same with foreign policies. Both political parties support the endless wars the US has waged in the wake of 9/11. Total US military spending for the past 25 years has exceeded $21 trillion (in 2024 dollars), surpassing the combined spending of the other 18 largest military powers in the world. During that time, China has built a whole new civilization and infrastructure, and leapfrogged the US economy to become the world leader in clean energy, high-speed rail and technological sectors in which the US was once preeminent. That team blue and red are both responsible for the appalling number of people we have slaughtered in the countries the US has attacked, bombed or invaded only adds to the moral squalor.

Let’s not forget to mention the owners of both teams–the billionaires and corporations that have used their immense wealth to buy our government so that they can amass even greater wealth. They also own the corporate media and thus promulgate the official narrative so they can manufacture consent. They distract us with tribal rituals–cultural war BS and extreme xenophobia against evil brown foreigners and immigrants.

From the Cook Political Report article earlier, Walter lays out the grim reality for team red heading into the midterms–“On paper, economic backlash to Trump should be strong in America’s agricultural regions. The Iran war has driven up the cost of fertilizer and diesel fuel. Trump’s on-again-off-again tariff wars have negatively impacted everyone from soybean farmers to cattle ranchers and meat packers. Deep cuts made to Medicaid in the One Big Beautiful Bill have had a disproportionate impact on rural hospitals, with many institutions being forced to close their doors or limit their services.”

It may not matter if team red simply throws on their jersey, but their cognitive dissonance must be roaring. And team blue is showing signs of waking from their slumber, with anger against party leaders over support of Israel and backlash against their embrace of AI and the tech-bros.

To both teams I say take off your jersey’s, look around and say hello to your neighbor.

You can do it.

Update: What are you going to spend your $5000 stimulus on?