Wondrous Words

trajectory "They were all able to send me and my sister to some of the best schools in the world. That trajectory, starting in the 1940s all the way through the 1980s, really, I think, describes what we understand when we talk about the American Dream."

 path of process or event: the way in which a process or event develops over a period of time

infrastructure Which means that a lot of common projects we had, whether it's public schools or public parks, or investments we make together in things like infrastructure, have declined."

public services or systems: the large-scale public systems, services, and facilities of a country or region that are necessary for economic activity, including power and water supplies, public transportation, telecommunications, roads, and schools

(a) gerrymandering "The combination of special interest money gerrymandering, a media that's more (b) balkanized--all of that has polarized parties more than in the past."

(a) U.S. politics. the dividing of a state, county, etc., into election districts so as to give one political party a majority in many districts while concentrating the voting strength of the other party into as few districts as possible.

(b) division into hostile subgroups: division of an area, region, or group into smaller and often mutually hostile units

Dictionary.com