The past year ended with an ugly drama for Americans: thousands of pages of documents from sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's case were finally made public, yet many appeared as little more than fields of blacked-out text, entire pages obscured by heavy redactions.During the unprecedented government shutdown from Oct. 1 to Nov. 12 last year, both parties remained entrenched, prioritizing partisan positions over the public welfare and disregarding the substantial economic damage incurred during the impasse.These episodes are telling emblems of what has unfolded across America over the past year a cascade of chaotic events and deepening partisan polarization spanning the...