David Brooks fingers the two political parties as the shovelers endlessly stoking the flames of degradation (“The death of democracy is happening within us,” Oct. 25). It’s hard to disagree with that, but there must be something more to our disunity. We are, after all, electing presidents who instead of seeking safety and happiness in union, seek it in a division of distinct sovereignty where like-minded people rule and reside; all others are unwelcome. It’s truly become the essence of this new century’s politic: Divide and conquer. Every four years we’re all crowded into a small area and subjected to the infection of our worst passions.

Who exactly is killing our democratic norms? Individually it doesn’t seem so difficult a question to answer. Yet collectively, it is. I fear therefore th

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