After
the Wisconsin primary, two things are clear:
First, Republicans are finally (however sluggishly) waking up to the
fact that The Donald may not be their best choice as a party standard-bearer;
and Second, on the Democratic side, Herself’s campaign is starting to look like
a repeat of 2008 (albeit, with a crotchety old white senator rather than a
smooth young black one.)
We’ve
heard it everywhere (including a lot of memes here on Facebook.) All the candidates are deplorable, (Is this
really the best we can do?) as if some outside malevolent power has forced them
upon us. But what has really emerged out
of this chaotic campaign season is a stunning possibility – that for the first
time in nearly thirty years, voters could have a completely clear choice
between the conservative and progressive vision of government.
Think
about it. Since Reagan, all the
candidates: both Bushes, Dukakis, Clinton, Dole, Gore, Kerry, McCain and
Romney, have all been in the (more or less) moderate spectrum of their
respective parties (at least when they were running) and were life-time members
of the government class. Obama is a true
ideological radical, but he openly lied about it during his first election, so
that in 2008 at least he ran as a moderate. Why has this been so? Because candidates in the general election
run to the middle to woo a political class that has become the true king-makers
in election politics – the Independents.
We all know who they are – in every social institution from the Little
League Parents’ committee to the United States Senate, they’re there – the people
who you can never really depend upon to back you up in anything. Their
Hamlet-like hand-wringing has essentially forced the political parties (and the
rest of us) to abandon clear-cut choices that might actually improve government
by giving us true direction (as under Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan) for
a squishy middle where gridlock prevails except in extreme cases, (like the
Iraq War and Obamacare) which end in costly disaster.
Should
the nomination contest stay with the current front-runners, would any of that
change? Of course not. Aside from immigration, Clinton’s and Trump’s
true positions are practically indistinguishable; and their pitches: Trump knows
how to negotiate a deal and Clinton will return to the realpolitik compromise
of her husband’s presidency, promise no relief from what really ails our
country – divided government.
But
if Cruz and Sanders are the respective nominees, we would actually see an
election with very real choice. Both men
are articulate and very unlikely to moderate their long-held positions in a
general election – it could (egad!) lead to debates where issues were (gasp!)
substantially discussed and defined. And
best of all, it would force that lumpen growth in the American alimentary canal
– Independents (who fancy themselves as superior beings above it all, but are
really just people who can’t make up their minds) to move their considerable
haunches off the political fence.
All
Independents have given us is over a quarter-century of divided government,
which accomplishes little, does much harm and nobody likes. So let’s man up and make a real, adult
decision. To my fellow Republicans, reject
the hucksterism of Trump whose positions are inimical to all the members (social,
religious, economic, conservative and establishment) of our party. Do you really want your nominee to be someone
who changes wives like his ties and is the subject of lawsuit over a
transparent con called Trump University?
Have faith in your own beliefs and nominate Ted Cruz. To my Democratic friends, reject the corruption
of Clinton, whose political cronyism embraces the heartless financial
institutions you decry. Do you really
want your nominee to be someone who is in the pay of high-finance, has
repeatedly shielded her sexual-predator husband and is likely to be
indicted? Have faith in your own beliefs
and nominate Bernie Sanders.
Let’s
have a real choice. Let’s have a real
debate. Let’s have a real election. Let’s make up our minds and get on with it.
