Most people look at politics as linear. On the one side at the extreme left is Communism, at the other end is National Socialism, but that’s the wrong way to look at it. Politics is circular and I made a quick basic diagram to illustrate this At the bottom, both left and right extremes end in dictatorships led by elites and in the old model you took your choice between Gulags and the Cheka/KGB or the Gestapo and concentration camps. In the new model its liberal or corporate fascism and the extremist civilian groups of Antifa or the Proud Boys replace state organizations. Democracy and dictatorships remain static, its politics that move around the circle. As each opposite moves towards its respective left or right dictatorship, it drags the opposite extreme with it. Under Obama the right moved upwards towards democracy and assumed a level of respectability and under Trump the left moved upwards towards the democratic center. Previously, both left and right moved a few degrees in either direction, but they now lurch sharply and the democratic ideal is almost a memory.
In the past, both parties tried to win the swing voters and voters complained about a lack of variety. And people complained that Jimmy Carter lacked charisma. He solved the big problem of his time which was high oil prices and domination by OPEC. But beware of what you wish for!
Then came Reagan, who I'd guess was the first picked due to the impression he gave on live TV. His winning policies were his wave and the way he said, 'God Bless America.' The trade balance went into a nose dive from the end of his first year. People voted based on no more than just an impression. Policies began wild shifts as the political parties lost control and the public voted in whichever loony seemed to appeal. We might have reached the last big swing because Biden may tarnish the reputation of the Democratic Party so severely that they will reassert control near the end of the decade. No Clintons, no Warrens, no Bidens, there are some sane and high-achieving possible Democratic candidates to run against rational accomplished Republican candidates in the future.
The fundamental problem is to have a busy, frivolous and misinformed public as a basis of democracy. This means opinion polls give widely varied results depending on the exact wording of a question. "Should we put a huge amount of NATO weapons in a country bordering Russia?" might yield a 'no'. While "should we give enough weapons to a country to defend itself against Russia," might result in a 'yes'.
