Required Reading

Salena Zito on the contrast and tension between Washington and the rest of America:

Washington isn’t just the home of the powerful seeking to make their mark, to govern, to become lobbyists, or to move up power’s ladder. It is supposed to be where all races, classes and ages can mingle, learn and view where a new republic struck a foothold in a plot of land that was mostly swamp, and set about to be more than a great experiment.

This collision — of those hopeful souls who live outside the center of power and wealth, and those who wield the power and cause the ineffectiveness — is at the crossroads of today’s populist movement, in which both parties push away from a strong federal government and toward local or state governments for solutions.

The country seems headed in two directions, at different levels.

Read the whole thing.