We no longer have a leadership class—of the sort that existed as late as the Truman and Eisenhower administrations—that believes that governing means finding an equilibrium between different economic interests and a balance between political factions. Instead, we have the politics of solipsism. The political culture encourages politicians and activists to imagine that the country’s problems would be solved if other people’s interests and values magically disappeared.

David Brooks, “The Politics of Solipsism”