As a German I started following British politics in the Brexit years, first for the fun of an utterly funny parliamentary culture (“ORDAAAAH!”) – then a few months later I found myself looking into Erskine May. But I'll be never on that guys level, too easily satisfied after a small-ish dose of something different.
Personally I think my big-company employer is deeply dysfunctional, but I (unfortunately) seem to be relatively good at operating within it, wracking up launches and promos for myself and my team. I suspect this is because I don't try to pretend it's something that it's not: I know that I'm in a fucked up system and nothing I do has any meaning long-term and don't pretend otherwise, which lets me look at things as they actually are and determine my best course of action rationally. A lot of other people are blinded by the halo effect and try to operate within the company as they think it should be, which is self-defeating because that's not reality.
It might be the same for Americans trying to navigate the American political system. We're so blinded by the myths and propaganda that we've been fed since childhood that we can't see how the system actually operates.
Another point from the article that resonated with me:
> Another advantage of his geographic distance: Congress generally gavels in around 10 a.m., perfect timing for Surdy, whose classes are just coming to an end at 3 p.m. in the UK.
I absolutely love the UK timezone. It's my favorite part about living here. I work remotely for a global company, and by sitting in the UK, I get significant overlap with people from California all the way through Japan. It's particularly nice for me as a night owl, because I don't mind evening meetings and chats. But I would hate to wake up at 530am like some on the West coast need to do.
Sometimes living in the UK really feels like having a head start on the US... I like to say that I'm geographically GMT, but biologically EST :)
Haven't been able to get into German politics in quite the same way, mainly due to my rage against the current hypocrisy, but as my German improves, maybe I'll understand it better.