The flood of new media voices is reshaping American politics in ways that look increasingly unstable, and that is bad news for anyone hoping for calmer public life.

• Social media has opened politics to an unlimited number of competing voices, and the country is still adjusting to it.
• Some of that change is healthy, but much of it rewards grandstanders, liars, and grifters.
• The bigger near-term danger is not bad information itself but the instability it creates.
• Politics is being shaped by this new environment in ways it never was before.

Outlook: Expect the churn of media-driven politics to keep feeding volatility rather than settle down.