Is our American democracy becoming less a matter of cohesive principle of governance and more an exercise in targeted vote-buying? In other words, is collective benefit (“government of the people”) being replaced by selective pandering to a “tribal alliance” of special-interest groups, each with its own axe to grind? We already see clear fracturing of political sentiment at the state level, where a changing red-blue mix is undermining any semblance of a functionally purple nation. The public is besieged by undisguised media partisanship and censorship. Meanwhile, Congressional dysfunctionality is forcing the power of representative government upward into the White House, exemplified by unprecedented executive orders that have characterized the last three administrations. Our elected representatives appear to spend most of their time investigating each other over spreading indications of impropriety that include treasonous actions. Has the former notion of honorable public service morphed into personal aggrandizement? Can we be surprised that “it’s all about the money” when major institutional investors endorse unfathomable compensation packages for many corporate executives – paydays that enable record personal contributions to increasingly extravagant political campaigns? In addition to moral, ethical and spiritual leadership, has the Presidency replaced Congress as a position of financial control and become an entrepreneurial pursuit? Might that result in a collection of nation states that could jeopardize their historical union? Phil Osifer