Serious question (not trying to bait anyone). What do you make of the rise of Independents?

[Recursion]

24. Because consumerism has taken over democracy. People look at voting as an act of self-expression.

They want to find the political Brand That's Right For Them™ rather than vote in the way that does the least harm and (very occasionally) advances the most good.

This consumerist sentiment leads them to see the two-party system, which is actually a pretty mathematically guaranteed outcome of a winner-take-all first-past-the-post district election system, as some kind of conspiracy to suppress their political self-expression. Rather than deal with the messy reality of the factional compromises our voting system pretty much insures (or -- God forbid -- actually volunteering for a party and being in the damn room where those compromises happen) they act like shoppers clipping coupons on Sunday and playing the two grocery stores in town off of each other ("Well Kroger will sell turkey for 80 cents a pound!" ).

When confronted with the question "why should a national coalition of multiple interests cater to your whims rather than the other way around?" they get upset, because in consumer situations having your whims catered to even at ruinous cost is the name of the game. The idea that voting is a service they perform is completely gone.

There's probably something about avocado toast I could add, but I think that's a decent description of how we got here.