US political polarization (measured by ideological distance between parties and party-line voting share) has reached post-Civil War highs as of 2021. The share of congressional votes along strict party lines is at its highest in modern recorded history. This is a structural feature of late-cycle empires in Dalio’s framework: partisan polarization → inability to address debt/fiscal problems → monetary debasement as the path of least resistance → inflation → further wealth inequality → more polarization. Polarization makes fiscal consolidation structurally impossible through normal political channels.