Well I don't disagree there - if it happens it will be hard work, not magic.

The point I am trying to make is that reform is both possible and - I think - conditions are continuing to build towards an inflection point. Over the next decade the oldest and most conservative voting cohorts are likely to die out, just as a younger and comparatively quite liberal cohort is entering adulthood.

This is happening right in the middle of a terribly unpopular war with Iran that is driving up oil costs, combined with inflation and a lot of domestic terror and unrest. If anything, the Trump administration has shown voters what is possible when you get a leader who is ready to throw out decorum and tradition and thumb their nose at the courts.

Young progressives see that and want it for themselves - after all, if Elon Musk can come in and gut half the federal government, seemingly dodging all the existing laws and consequences, why can't some liberal firebrand come in and do the same to the military industrial complex, or the social media companies that experimented on teenagers and intentionally gave a generation eating and self-esteem disorders?

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Anecdotally, have you been to a local farmer/maker market recently? I'm sure it's regional but here it's not uncommon to see booths selling screen-printed shirts with portraits of Luigi Mangione.

People are angry.