The secret force destroying America is . . .

Mother Jones has chosen my vacation to release my latest piece for the magazine. I can't blame them for that, though. Since I don't work there anymore they didn't know I was taking time off. Anyway, the payment for the article financed the vacation, so it all worked out well.

The piece is about why we're all so pissed off these days, politically speaking. I've been working on this for over a year, and I'm far from the first person to take on this subject. But the more I looked into it, the more I got convinced that everyone was ignoring the real problem. Or, at least, not giving it the credit it deserves.

The first thing to ask yourself is when this all started. In some sense, it began in the '60s, the wellspring of the culture wars. But we managed to survive for several decades after that without wanting to slit each others' throats.

Then there were Rush Limbaugh, Drudge, and Newt Gingrich. I give Gingrich credit for being the intellectual force behind our polarized politics, but he only lasted a few years and then faded away in ignominy. That doesn't really fit with (it turns out) the early 2000s being the point when fear and hatred really skyrocketed.

So what happened? It can't be social media, which only took off a few years ago. It's not an increase in conspiracy theories, which are no more popular then they've ever been (honest). And it's not likely to be material circumstances, since on a wide variety of topics most us are better off—or at least no worse off—than we've ever been. There are a few exceptions, but they just aren't numerous enough to wreck an entire country.

No, the only answer that really fits is an old, familiar one: Fox News. Many liberals don't remember this, but when Fox News started up in 1996 it was a fairly generic center-right newscast. But around 2000 that changed and Fox increasingly adopted the hard-nosed attitude it maintains to this day. Why? Maybe it was the 2000 election. Maybe it was 9/11. Maybe someone did some market research. I don't know.

In any case, around 2000 Fox became ever more vicious at the same time that its audience really began to grow. Liberals weren't just bad, they hated America. They were unpatriotic. They wanted to tax away all your money and give it to, um, you know. White America was on the precipice and there wasn't much time left. Etc.

The result has been not just polarization, but a genuine fear among many conservatives that if liberals are allowed in power, the America they know and love is doomed. And that's the heart of the anger and hatred that power our country today. You may hear a handful of Republicans finally criticizing Donald Trump, but you'll never hear any of them criticizing Fox News, the organization that put him in the White House in the first place. That's because they know where the real power lies.

There's much more to this, so I urge you to read the whole piece. Just click here. Let me know if I've convinced you.