Sweet Sixteen

Two-thousand sixteen! It’s finally here, and it promises to be one of those “interesting times” the Chinese warned us about. Anyone who is half conscious knows that there is a notably different vibe this time around. The inmates are finally making a serious challenge to the asylum, and everyone is nervous.

Gracie AllenThis is not a new phenomenon. Every twenty years or so, voters aspire to throw out the rule book and elect a lunatic. Our history is full of wacky wannabes, and some even got elected.

They said John Adams wanted to be king and Jefferson wanted to be a dictator. (Neither claim was true.)

Adams’ son got whipped by a psychotic hillbilly who once got shot and still managed to beat the crap out of his would-be assassin. Later, Andy Jackson betrayed his native allies and sent them on the Trail of Tears, which ranks down there with the Bataan death march in terms of cruelty and suffering. But hey, that’s what the voters wanted.

Marx Bros.Henry and George Wallace were pariahs within the Democratic party; Henry to the left and George to the right. Today we see their ghosts in the populist uprisings in both parties.

Or rather than ghosts, they are old ideas born again. Some believe government should have more say in the distribution of wealth while others want government to preserve their place in the social order. Both will use whatever means necessary to enforce the will of the people. Neither will recognize the legitimacy of the other.

Vermin for prezSounds like a recipe for revolution, doesn’t it?

Mainstream media has been wishing away the Trump campaign since it started, but it’s now become clear that if The Donald announced that he ate kittens for breakfast his polls would go up another five points. He and his supporters have become so emboldened that they flaunt their bigotry in public, much the same as their Democratic predecessors did in 1950’s Alabama.

It’s given the eastern establishment pros hives. It’s pretty bad when even the Republican Speaker of the House stands in front of the cameras and denounces your position on religious freedom  and still your numbers go up.

Magilla for prezMeanwhile, the coronation of the Clintons has been delayed by the upstart independent socialist Senator Bernie Sanders. Just as with Trump, the pundits are now marveling how the Berning Man has risen from the ashes of McGovernism to actually challenge the anointed heirs to the Oval Office.

And Madam Secretary hasn’t helped her case. Despite the partisan nature of the server scandal, there is the nagging perception that the Clintons are obsessed with secrecy. Even so, their attempts to circumvent the public record often seem clumsy and amateurish. You’d think they’d be better at it after all the Investi-gates of the nineties.

But honesty has never been a requirement for most Democrat  presidential candidates, as long as you can win elections and not stray too far to the right. Because of this year’s perceived weakness on the right, the left sees an opportunity to get to the top of the heap and start whittling it down until they achieve parity and equality for all. And lacking any viable youngsters, they’ll go with a frumpy old man from a backwater state who hasn’t compromised his message since he first climbed a stump almost a half century ago. The question is: will he be tough enough to survive the daily beatings he will encounter if he becomes the front-runner?

The real test comes in a few weeks when actual live voters start marking ballots. Will the outsiders prevail? Will editorial cartoonists and satirists continue to have material handed to them on a silver platter?

Stay tuned…

 

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7 Responses to Sweet Sixteen

  1. fish says:

    Yes…..election season has been a lot of fun so far!

  2. Chris Peterson says:

    “much the same as their Democratic predecessors did in 1950’s Alabama.”

    Of course, it’s important to note that the majority of Democratic bigots of the 50’s became the Republican bigots from the 60’s on, when the party decided civil rights were more important than catering to their knuckle-dragging values. How ironic that the party of Lincoln became home to the race and religion, fear-based bigots of today.

  3. wprice says:

    I see that the virtue signalling runs strong within Mr. Crabb today.

  4. rl crabb says:

    The Democratic establishment is shitting bricks (Did I say that? Well, wash my mouth out with soap!) over the latest numbers from New Hampshire. The political hacks are hacking away… http://www.calbuzz.com/2016/01/why-democrats-should-stop-dabbling-with-bernie/

  5. Chris Peterson says:

    As an independent, far be it from me to advise the Democratic establishment on how they should run a campaign, BUT, the “Look, squirrel!” tactic ain’t workin’.

    “We have to vote for Hillary, because:
    -the Supreme Court
    -ISIS
    -Trump and Cruz

    Truth is;
    Bernie would nominate actual liberals for SCOTUS
    Bernie’s plans for ISIS demand more participation from neighboring countries
    And Bernie’s numbers show a larger margin of victory over all of the republican contenders than Hillary.
    And the more they turn up the heat of pundit quackery, the more I’m convinced of Bernie’s chances. From Stephanopolis demanding Bernie’s position on things said years before he became a politician, yet asking none of the same questions to Hillary on the same show, (him- socialism, her- Goldwater), to softball questions in the debate for the Queen, (in which she is given 60 seconds to answer and then 30 seconds to respond to herself), to articles like the one you posted, (where we are told we must tow the party line, and accept the status quo, or suffer certain defeat), they are convincing me that, if Bernie is not the nominee, it would be better to allow someone like Trump to reign for the next 4 years, if nothing else. to bring citizens back to reality by exposing the absolute idiocy of both parties AND the system.

    For god’s sake, O’Malley’s a better candidate than Clinton, and probably more level-headed than anyone on either side. He just doesn’t sell copy.

  6. Michael Anderson says:

    I think I need to take a nap.

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