[My Brother]: has been feeling more cynical than usual. Maybe it's time to call Guinness?
Me: been reading reddit too much, I'll bet. perk up, l'il buddy. you know Obama's got it in the bag.
[My Brother]: The political things are just symptoms. I have increasingly been feeling like the accepted axes of value assignment that govern social, political, personal, and other matters are knocked askew. They don't span quite the right space. This makes everything less efficient and generally prevents our various cultural institutions and social constructions from performing well.
You know it.
"It is the duty of a citizen in a free country not to fit into society, but to make society." (John Holt)
Johanna and I do not value what the schools in this country value, therefore we will not make our children subject to that cultural institution. We do not value what the established churches value (specifically the administrative overhead), therefore we do not submit to their authority. You don't have to become Unabomber2 to step away from the things you disagree with.
I would suggest you be critical of what you expect from the world. Note: "expect", not "hope for". Efficiency and performance are as much symptoms of a skewed framework for perceiving rightness as the current political climate is a symptom of the general brokenness that surrounds us.
Do keep hoping for and working towards something better, though. There's enough to be done to keep us all busy for awhile.