The politics of the United States are increasingly polarized and prone to prolonged stalemate, resulting in its inability to fulfill basic government functions, such as through the budget. The American system has obvious problems: the impact of money on politics and the increasingly misaligned election system with "democratic" choices, but the United States seems unable to reform itself. In the first two decades of the 21st century, American policymakers led two disasters: the Iraq War and the subprime mortgage crisis, and then a short-sighted agitator appeared to incite angry populists to make trouble.
