Representative Democracy is most certainly a messy affair at times. Yet the seats of power continue to be exchanged in an orderly fashion. And our streets aren't running with the blood of civil warfare.

   Neither is anyone in the political arena operating in a complete vacuum. It is arguably a partial one.

   The starkest failures of the American experiment in self-government are traceable to a lack of participation by much of the electorate. From a Stanford University study I've read, active voter engagement in elections has been wavering, for generations, in the neighborhood of 50%. Hence, no candidate of either major party may be seen to have received a "mandate" from any genuine majority of citizens.

   Into that vacancy a decidedly angry segment of the electorate has stepped. Feeling disenfranchised in a far from perfect Union, seething at being largely ignored by the political mainstream, they put Donald J. Trump into office.

   And on they rage! The public media platforms are teeming with their vitriol. But I ask: where will any of that actually get us?

   While the cacophony of rancorous partisan bickering continues - who stands to gain? Who, to lose?