Saturday, February 27, 2016

Toto, I've a Feeling We're Not in Kansas Anymore.

There is an old colloquialism that is often attributed to Sam Clemens that goes, "Figures don't lie, but liars do figure."

I think that the 2016 Presidential primary races of both the Democrat and Republican parties illustrate that a large segment of the American people, on some level, are beginning to see that the understandings and beliefs that served as the foundation for previous generations are not applicable to the current realities of life in America. That is, they just don't add up.

This is highlighted by the surprisingly strong support that non-establishment candidates are getting. We just may be on the cusp of a revolution of understanding.

On the GOP side, Ted Cruz, the Tea Party darling, is beginning to be seen for what he truly is: the consummate sociopathic grafter, the carny preacher who plants "miracles" in his tent while taking money from Wall Street to finance the show.

And because of this new feeling by Americans that something is not quite right, this man who ultimately is only concerned with his own self-aggrandizement, is loosing the support of a significant portion of his Evangelical base.

Marco Rubio, with the aid of a combination of cronyism and nepotism, is mouthing policy and platitudes that served the establishment of previous generations but are no longer viable in today's world.

Pull yourself up on the coattails of the rich and powerful is his American Dream.

Trump is much more complicated and his motivation is much less transparent. Certainly with individual and national debt reaching mind boggling levels, and with the rise of globalization impacting the standard of living for most Americans, and the ability of Americans to save, Trump's brand of nationalism does have mass appeal.

Though he does denounce inversion, corporate welfare, and global monetary and business practices that harm the American worker and America as a whole, it is unclear if his brand of nationalism allies with Teddy Roosevelt's vision.

President Roosevelt called for the end of special protections for businesses by the Washington Establishment. He believed that anyone who worked hard should be able to provide for themselves and their families. No person or group should have access to "special privileges" that are not available to everyone else. (This notion is an anathema to both Cruz and Rubio and Trump has openly acknowledged that he has made many "donations" over time to further his business ventures.)

Teddy, the Trust-Buster as he was nicknamed, advocated equality in the rules of the game ensuring that the rules and laws made opportunity available to everyone. Lofty!

Bernie Sanders is without a doubt the most authentic candidate running for the Presidency in 2016. His candidacy has great value in that it focuses on and highlights the corruption and inequities present in our society, conditions that Roosevelt sought to remedy.

Bernie Sanders points out the special protections for the wealthy afforded by our government. He makes us aware of the inability of many hard working families to provide for themselves and their families currently. He elucidates the special privileges, inequities and corruption by the Establishment in our society, issues that were central to the policy of President Teddy Roosevelt over a century ago.

Unfortunately, these maladies are as old as mankind and the actions have been entwined with and divorced from our democracy, in varying degrees, over time. And they can only be changed through the process of our democracy over time.

In American government, Trump is right about one thing. Progress comes about from making deals. And democracy is compromise.

However, as Sanders points out, democratic progress cannot come about if a majority of the shareholders are excluded from the negotiating table by economic or procedural means, by lies and misinformation, or a rigged system.

Chris Matthews on MSNBC recently stated that an ultra right-wing Congressman recently told him that he spends all of his time in Washington convincing his colleagues that he is not crazy and then returns home to his constituents and has to convince them that he is.

The very surprising support of Sanders and Trump may illustrate that many Americans are starting to come to the realization that things are not quite right.

2 comments:

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Anonymous said...

I always used to tell people that I am a Teddy Roosevelt Republican - not so much in favor of global imperialism as he was, but closely allied on domestic policy.

He busted up the mega corporations of his Era - because he really belived in free markets and knew you couldn't have a small federal government if private interests became larger and more powerful than the officials representing the people. He also proposed national regulations to deal with national abuses of the old robber barons, and called his program the "Square Deal" - to give little people a break from the corporate predators and chance to move up in life through their efforts. The traditional post-Reagan rhetoric has involved demonizing the poor as being lazy and/or immoral, which is what late 19th Century Republicans tended to do. TR knew that people treated like dirt tend to behave that way, and as more formerly blue collar Republicans have been treated like dirt by both the Republican establishment and Tea Party insurgents, Trump has become their false prophet - as Bernie has become to the young and hopeless.