“Insanity in individuals is something rare – but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.”
―Friedrich Nietzsche
It is very odd indeed, that in a Republic the majority of citizens belonging to each major political party should be so disappointed in their particular party’s presidential nominee. The present consternation would indicate a conspiracy against the people, as if it were not true that more Democrats voted for Secretary Clinton and more Republicans for billionaire Donald Trump than the other candidates who earnestly sought to represent their party in November.
We read stories describing a Clinton conspiracy to convince DNC Chairman and former Virginia Governor, Tim Kaine, to step down from his role running the DNC in order to install Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Schultz would then use her position as DNC chairman to ensure the nomination of Hillary Clinton, who would then choose Tim Kaine, now a Senator from Virginia, as her Vice-President. However, this conspiracy ignores the fact that, still, more Democrats voted for Hillary Clinton than did Bernie Sanders. Super Delegates had absolutely no impact on Clintons’ eventual nomination.
On the Republican side of the aisle, establishment hacks like Jennifer Rubin, William Krystal, and David Brooks appear on the brink of Jonestown at the thought of Trump leading the GOP into November. Many conservatives, constitutionalists, and right-leaning libertarians are furious; and while most will set aside their principles to support their party (and more importantly in order to defeat Hillary Clinton), some are still searching for a third party candidate to get behind.
Yet, with all the incredible talent presented to Republican voters before the primary began, Donald Trump received the most votes. Fingers point to open primaries and to Democrat populists as the reason for Donald Trumps’ success, but this ignores the reality of Trumps’ popularity with independents, evangelicals, and TEA Party types. Democrat crossovers or not, Donald Trump would still have received a plurality of the Republican vote.
Phenomenally successful Governors like Jeb Bush and Rick Perry, who governed two of the most important States in the country could not get even the slightest support from Republican Voters. Young leaders in the conservative movement like Senators Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio all developed their own base within the party, but it is clear today that the majority of Republicans will not support them.
17 Republicans ran for the Republican Nomination and Donald Trump was the consensus choice. That’s no conspiracy and it was no accident. I personally watched as long time Ted Cruz supporters pealed away from his camp early on to get behind Donald Trump. Within days of this happening, their love of Ted Cruz soured and their feelings quickly became caustic, their opinions of the Texas Senator became increasingly negative. The majority of them now despise Ted Cruz and love Donald Trump. Donald Trump represents a plurality of Republicans. This is a reality. This is the new constituency.
5 Democrats ran for the Democrat Nomination.
Pardon me, that would be 4 Democrats and 1 Democratic-Socialist (a recent convert to the Democrat Party). Jim Webb and Lincoln Chafee quickly recognized that they were too moderate and uncontroversial for a Democrat Party rapidly descending left. Only former Maryland Governor, Martin O’Malley, who had attempted to implement every crazy liberal idea in Maryland (even going so far as to tax the rain) believed he was liberal enough to go the distance with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Governor O’Malley could not gain any traction and he was forced to drop out after Iowa.
The insanity facing us in November has nothing to do with the RNC or the DNC dropping the ball or engaging in political conspiracy. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will compete with one another for the presidency because they are who the American People wanted. We have no one to blame but ourselves.
The madness doesn’t stop with the Republicans and Democrats. The Green Party nominated Jill Stein, who would have preferred to run as Vice-President underneath a man – a bizarre reality considering her supposedly feminist ideology. The Libertarian Party nominated two former Republican Governors who’s political philosophies are untethered from the United States Constitution (the backbone of liberty).
While ignorant of the communist community in the United States, I am convinced that there are communist fundamentalists lamenting just how far their political party’s have strayed from the founding principles of their glorious movement.
The American People are unmoored from any common set of historical political principles. This lack of intellectual and philosophical foundation has ushered in an age of intellectual and philosophical chaos. We stand as witnesses to the inevitability of this state of political upheaval.
If the Party of John F. Kennedy and Harry Truman sees fit to nominate Hillary Clinton and the Party of Dwight D. Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan sees fit to nominate Donald Trump, then I believe it is safe to say that our political traditions are dead. Anything is possible in the future for all our political party’s and we have no tools to predict what these political party’s of ours will become.
3 comments
Agree. I’m used to and expect pendulum swings, but I never thought it to spin wildly and juke in seizure-like fits.
All we can do is hang on. It’s going to be one hell of a ride.
Whenever a paradigm shift occurs, change is rapid and often chaotic. One example was what happened at NIH when recombinant DNA based genetics took hold. Research money switch from normal investment to 80% DNA research in one budget cycle. Trump is a huge change agent and the various political, media and academic establishments are fighting tooth and nail to preserve their paradigm against the rising tide.