The problem is even deeper than this article recognizes. Yes, the media has a vested interest in generating mindless sensationalism but this is not restricted to politics. Ordinary people have their heads filled with utterly misleading nonsense merely because that's the most profitable thing media organizations can do - and so they do it. Meanwhile, our approach to governance requires no qualification to vote other than age, so even the most stupid and ignorant people's votes count for as much as the votes of the tiny number of people who make an attempt to be adequately informed about real facts and then reason carefully from them. Moreover, we require no qualifications from candidates, and so the winners are generally self-serving imbeciles who succeed by babbling the simplest-to-remember soundbites and who promise the most free ice-cream to the masses.

Not surprisingly, this is a recipe for disaster. Which is why we've seen Trump, Brexit, Orban, Modi, Meloni, PiS, etc. etc. triumph over the last decade - and this is just the beginning.