Three weeks ago, The New York Times released a poll of Americans on the question of whether America’s political system could still solve the nation’s problems. The overwhelming response: no. In September 2020, 51% of Americans believed that America’s system could still address America’s problems; by September 2025, that number had declined to 33%. Meanwhile, almost two-thirds of Americans believe that America’s political system is too politically divided to solve the nation’s problems.

It’s easy to attribute this growing dissatisfaction with some sort of unique period of gridlock. But that’s not what the data suggests. The number of bills passed into law by Congress has not markedly declined since the Obama era — in the 111th Congress (2009-2011), for example, there were 383 public laws passed; in the 117th (2021-2023) there were 362. And major laws — huge omnibus packages costing trillions of dollars — continue to be signed into law on a regular basis, of course.

It’s also easy to attribute Americans’ growing sense of dread about our political divisions to the rise of social media. And there’s more truth to this: social media exacerbates our divisions by highlighting the most extreme opinions and signaling on all sides, thus incentivizing creation of such radicalism. The monetary and attention-laden benefits of such radicalism are clear and obvious to anyone who spends any time on X, for example.

But even that isn’t enough to explain why Americans are so frustrated with their political system. Americans, of course, have been extraordinarily divided before over politics: violent radicalism was a regular feature of life in the 1960s and 1970s, for example.

And yet this time feels unique.

It feels unique because there are no institutional brakes on such radicalism.

Every major institution in American life — many of which were designed to act as moderating influences on popular passions — have completely lost their credibility. From universities, which promoted propagandistic leftism to generations of college students, to churches, which emptied their pews by embracing liberalism above eternal values; from the FBI, which destroyed itself by targeting President Donald Trump, to the media, which wrecked itself on the shoals of Russiagate, BLM, Covid and Joe Biden’s incompetence; virtually all the institutions that would have authority to speak on behalf of truth and decency have collapsed. The result is chaos.

And that chaos means mistrust.

What can restore that trust? Only leadership. Consistent, capable and able leadership: a willingness to speak the moral truth, to speak facts in a vacuum, to reach across the aisle to others willing to do the same. In an era in which utilitarianism has replaced Biblical morality, in which decency is now perceived as unilateral disarmament, only a bipartisan embrace of rules and decency can provide a path forward.

Will that happen? It’s unlikely, but it has happened before. America has undergone spiritual revival; leaders have risen. But it cannot happen unless Americans are willing to tentatively trust one another again. And that cannot happen unless Americans get to know each other once again, offline, in real life situations. Most Americans are normal people who want the same things Americans have always wanted: a better life for their children, freedom to pursue that life, and communities rooted in traditional virtue. The normies must find each other and must find solidarity with each other. America does need a revolution — but it needs a Normie Revolution. The time is now. It cannot wait.

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