We should also be considering ways to nudge politicians away from wild-eyed rants to more fact-based discussions of how to solve real problems, and give more rational and responsible newcomers a better chance to replace them if they don’t change their ways.

Our current political communications channels are broken.  They don't allow many voices to register that aren’t either headline-grabbing with their hyper-inflammatory nature, or bought and paid for by powerful special interests funding insanely expensive advertising campaigns.  Here, a combination of carrots and sticks may be the most effective approach.

For starters, we ought to consider flat-out banning paid political advertising on television and other audiovisual media, but publicly funding something better for candidates as well as voters.