I once read a fascinating critique by an Indian Marxist of nationalism during the British Raj, the crux of which was the Gramscian idea that elites addressed peasants & workers by invoking symbols/religion/tradition while keeping politics basically contained among themselves

It's a running joke within the left that vulgar Marxism can often get you quite a long way, and it's incredible how much this same basic idea applies in many contemporary political settings.

In the USA especially, politics is largely something elites want to keep for themselves - to many American politicians Congressional brokerage and chumminess is a way of life, and they're not to be complicated by deference to social movements or activists.

Even average voters are trained to think like pundits, their brains rewired to process politics like Chris Cillizza or Nate Silver and their electoral preferences decided the same way

For those outside the bubble, the thing is as much as possible kept on the level or symbol and spectacle. Politicians are no longer powerful figures who represent people, ideas, or agendas for reform.

Instead, they're vague ciphers onto which we're encouraged to project grand cultural narratives that have virtually nothing to do with their records, policy agendas, or the interests they're visibly fronting for.

Like characters in a long-running TV show, they have arcs that fit a tidy narrative or morality tale. Some are audience surrogates. Events occur as turns in a plot rather than as political outcomes.

Sometimes the essentials of the universe (who's a friend, who's an enemy for example) must be revised on the fly in response to feedback from the network focus groups.

Campaigns are run by, and largely for people inside the bubble and pundits tell us all whose debate performance ("performance") was best so we can outsource our opinions to an expert in how the mysterious ordinary voter (that is, *us*) thinks.

Political activism is reduced to cheering for a particular character while actual politics are something elites largely think about and do among themselves.

For the rest of us, there is no choice but to stan.