Intrinsic change is scary. Scary for everyone – not just the few. The Republican Party is most frightened of all. The word is, after Donald won Super Tuesday so handily, that the big money in the Republican Party is scheming to stop him – regardless of the popular vote of American citizens who believe he speaks for them. Two thoughts occur to the mariner: Is the oligarchy so entrenched that it can ignore the rules of a Presidential election? What happened to a democracy where one person, one vote is sacrosanct?
An interesting fact: Donald has received approximately 420,000 votes so far. That’s about 100,000 more than the average republican vote after Super Tuesday. It is likely that the excess is made up of democrats and independents as well as newly registered republicans. What others who did not vote for Donald fear is that he will make it to the Bastille of St. Laurent (Joan of Arc’s siege of Orléans), that is, he will become President of the United States.
Donald is not by any measure republican, or democrat, or libertarian, or evangelical. His agenda as President will definitely change things across the spectrum of American politics. He frightens rational citizens with his claims of building Hadrian’s Wall on the Mexican border, his isolationist intentions in the area of trade and constraints on US industry, and, whether he truly believes in racist policies or just pontificates it for the entertainment of his followers, all are a destructive platform.This reflects his role as Robin Hood: a bit uncouth and unsophisticated and the hero that makes the establishment uncomfortable. The truth is we don’t know what Donald will do – a scary proposition in its own right. We have yet to see any philosophical or political pattern to his rhetoric. His Presidency no doubt will shake up the status quo.
The democrats, on the other hand, turned out a vote 20% short of Obama’s 2012 campaign. Are the differences in turnout enough to make Donald’s general election a success? Like Bernie says, the democrats win when there is a big turnout – bigger than indicated so far.
Hillary drags more than enough baggage to discourage a warm, responsive electorate. If Donald gets by the republican oligarchy and runs against Hillary, it will be a close race. What bothers the mariner is that both of them are 1 percenters.
Ancient Mariner