Are we living in an era of political contentment? Most Americans would answer that question with a bellowing “No!” But there’s a case to be made that American voters, for all their negative talk, actually don’t want a set of public policies markedly different from what we have today.

Note that that seems to be the practical result of the 2022 midterm elections last month. Republicans eked out exactly the same narrow House majority the Democrats had won in 2020. This seems likely to prevent any further policy lurch to the left. And the Democrats’ retention of a narrow Senate majority, and of course the White House, prevents a lurch to the right.