Enter "Pirate Parties". The anti- establishment sensation sweeping across countries like Sweden, Germany, and Iceland. Based on experimental, radical platforms and run almost exclusively over social media, these political parties have rapidly amassed a devoted following of young and disenfranchised voters. According to opendemocracy.net pirate parties tend to believe in open copyright laws, drug decriminalization, and direct democracy. According to vicenews.com, the pirate party of Iceland is poised to take the majority in parliament. This event would be a first of its kind and would mark a major institutional revolution, possibly big enough to spark similar events across Europe.

So what do pirate parties say about the future of democracy? Well first, it's unlikely, even if they win in Iceland, that pirate parties will suddenly start unseating every major establishment one country at a time. However, they do demonstrate the west's current frustration with our political institutions. Even in America, insurgent candidates like Bernie Sanders have garnered unprecedented support and the "old way" of doing things has fallen out of favor. People across the globe are still feeling the effects of the 2008 recession and current politicians have not done enough to ease their suffering. Everyday people are feeling left behind by the ruling elites of their respective countries. Even Brexit points to this phenomenon. So many people felt left behind by the EU that they were actually able to force Britain to leave. Now, statistics would show that the places voting to leave were getting the most EU assistance and that the sense of abandonment people felt likely had to do with globalization, but people still mobilized and created a major change in Europe. You can even see activity like this right here in America. Senators, governors, even entire parties have fallen out of favor just as quickly as a software update. The country is moving extremely fast and people are thinking irrationally and now Donald Trump is a major party nominee.

So, if we are to look at all of the events taking place this year, it's painfully obvious that winter is coming. Gone are the days of attack ads and kissing babies. The internet has proven far more effective than any other form of spreading information and it is young voters who will have the edge on this front. Parties will become short- lived, hyperactive, dependent variables on whatever the most hot button issues happen to be at the time of elections. And in that way, politics will be the same as usual.