Norm Ornstein, American Enterprise Institute

As we officially enter the 2014 Midterm Election season, a clear question defines the debate: Have we reached a new age of political extremism?From the government shutdown to internal Republican battles to new Voter ID laws, evidence piles up. And with real challenges like health care implementation, debt reduction and immigration reform, instead of constructive work by leaders to address the issues of our day, there’s a tearing down.Choose what you want to blame, but the bottom line is clear: Congress and the politics around it isn’t working.How did we get into this mess? More importantly, of course, how might we get out?Few think about the cause and effect more than Norm Ornstein, contributing editor for National Journal, co-author of “It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism,” and resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.