"Populist Parties Are Rising Because Mainstream Conservatives Have Failed."
"Our political commentary is confused because it conceives of the Republican Party as a top-down entity. It's not. There are two Republican parties, an elite party of the corporate upper crust and meritocratic winners that sits atop a mass party of whites without college degrees whose world-views and experiences and ambitions could not be more different from their social and economic betters. The former party enjoys the votes of the latter one, but those votes are not guaranteed. What so worries the GOP about Donald Trump is that he, like Ross Perot, has the resources and ego to rend the two parties apart. If history repeats itself, it will be because the Republican elite was so preoccupied with its own economic and ideological commitments that it failed to pay attention the needs and desires of millions of its voters. So the demagogue rises. The party splits. And the Clintons win."
Comrade X
Chiu ChunLing said...
"I don't think that "social fabric conservatives" is quite the right term for those voters who are most anxious about the destabilizing effects of crime, rioting, illegal immigration, corruption, state acceptance of lawless activity, and much else on the social order. But I haven't been able to think of a better."
How about simply "conservatives"?
That is to say, 'mainstream conservatives' are only mainstream in the view of the social elite, they aren't conservatives at all. Conservatives don't believe in spending wealth they will never have to solve 'problems' of society not evolving fast enough for their tastes.
We must not forget that the massive amounts of bad debt which initiated our agonizingly drawn out economic crisis were originally consumer debts which were bundled together and then passed about like a hot-potato among top financial firms. It is certainly true that the political left advocated issuing that debt to 'improve' the situation of their traditional constituents, but it is clear enough that, by and large, the 'mainstream conservatives' permitted this massive increase in social spending because it was 'more efficient' than doing the same kind of wealth redistribution through government agencies.
This 'fiscal conservatism' is really just another appeal to elite expertise somehow being capable of overthrowing the natural consequences of profligate spending, a claim that if we sufficiently launder the money we're throwing about in an effort to alter the existing social order, the bad consequences of rewarding incompetence and venality and punishing independence and productivity will be eliminated.
Poll: Big Government Biggest Threat to U.S.
(CNSNews.com) - A recent Gallup poll shows a majority of Americans (69%) view big government as "the biggest threat to the country in the future."
When asked to choose among big government, big labor and big business, Americans overwhelmingly name big government as the biggest threat to the country in the future.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/eric-scheiner/poll-big-government-biggest-threat-us
morsextenebris said...
IMHO, the fix is in no matter what. The people stopped being an active and legitimate part of the electoral process long ago and only follow the rules established by the corrupt system. It's all show with all the mechanics being manipulated by the local, state & general governments. Trump, I still do not trust, although he has my attention on many matters. What really irks me is that none of the players are on the Constitutional bandwagon, you can talk all you want but what are their real thoughts on the intent of the framers & our Constitutional Republic....zip, zilch, nada, etc...
Marco Cinco said...
I've heard all the voting theories about votes splitting. I remember the 1992 General Election. It ain't over until it's over, unless, of course, (hanging) Chad shows up again or some other anomaly. The fact is, nobody deserves you're vote, they need to earn it. And if the Republican party 'dies', who cares? They once were a replacement for another grand party. Something will replace it.
What I want is the warm fuzzies and right now I'm not getting them from either major party. The last thing I want to see is voting from roof-tops, but it could come down to that. Somehow I don't envision unicorns and rainbows resulting from the cartridge box. If the Constitution survives after conflict we'll be blessed to be cursed with a neo-Reconstruction.
At this point let Clinton win and let's get this party started; before I'm too damn old to dance with anyone there.
I'm with "December 31, 2015 at 1:48 PM" anonymous. The morality 'cheese' of this country has slid off the cracker. When and where do we begin?
rexxhead said...
At this point, the only thing that will turn us around is a "cratering event". We're` going to have to hit bottom hard before sufficient people realize the idiocy of trying to spend your way to prosperity. It's not going to be fun, and I pity those who have to slog their way through it. The bright side (for me) is that I'll probably be one of the first casualties.
There are fates worse than death.
What is now occurring cannot last, for at some future point in time there will be a reckoning. Political parties have proven largely ineffective in promoting the Nation state above their own ambitions. Self-serving politicians are beholden to the system that dictates party 'principles' above all else, and regardless of their use of the forked tongue with which to woo the voter - the thinking and self-reliant voter no longer is no longer willing to listen to and put up with their crap!
So at some point in time the deluded and the criminal politicians and their lackeys will get to meet with those who are not deluded and who can reckon on their own respect for the law of the land as their right to remove the deluded and the criminal from office, but when that occurs, is the old system that has thrown up the deluded and the criminal going to be resumed or should there be changes as to how the system should be allowed to operate?
Look, if Hillary Clinton wins, then it is the "Republican" elite who facilitate it. We voted "their" way time and time and time again, and lost every time anyway. No more. Either we get a Constitutionalist this time around, or we get a new Declaration of Independence written sometime in the future after another civilization ending and restarting war.
Hey GOPe, it really is now or never, cuz you ain;t blaming us this time.
If that is how it must be and even after Obama you fools wish to leverage Another Clinton against us, fine, have her. Love her. Enjoy her, cuz we ain't budging. And we will not vote for your establishment hacks anymore. Ever. Got it?
Happy New Year to all the strollers, residents, and shopkeepers on Sipsey Street. Chin up and keep this in mind:
Every true thing was first believed by one, then by dozens, then millions, then by everyone except that moron who married your sister. Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come. Let's hope the idea is ours and the time is now.