"People of privilege will always risk their complete destruction rather than surrender any material part of their advantage. Intellectual myopia, often called stupidity, is no doubt a reason. But the privileged also feel that their privileges, however egregious they may seem to others, are a solemn, basic, God-given right."
John Kenneth Galbraith
The last presidential election was obviously, and by choice of the parties, a contest between the lesser of two evils. The Democratic candidate was the choice of the party insiders, and the Republican of people who had just had enough, and were willing to believe the unabashed nonsense of a conman in their desperation.
I think both choices were very unpalatable for slightly different reasons and on different timelines. It was almost a tossup of ugliness, and it was most cynically played by the Democrats. And thereby lost.
Probably my biggest concern is that with a few wins over candidates from the other side who are utterly hopeless and largely unelectable, the Democratic establishment is gong to try and bank on their timeworn losing strategy of going negative and fear-mongering again, without putting forward any solid policy proposals.
Why is this? Because they are caught in a credibility trap— if they wish to continue their top down strategy of tight, imperious, DNC insider control of nearly everything that the party does. And so they can keep their focus, to the exclusion of winning elections, on big donor money and the power which it brings.
They would therefore continue to neglect the grass roots, leaving it to boot-strapping progressives, and going out of their way not to alienate any of their corporate and uber-wealthy donors by taking any economically populist stands. And so it may very well be identity politics and Russia, all over again.
But given their obvious inability to govern above the level of a self-obsessed and habitually intoxicated college fraternity, I am therefore not optimistic for the Republicans either.
And so where does that leave us?
It tends to imply the increasing alienation of the electorate. And that scenario possesses several less likely but potentially very ugly outcomes. You can't fool everyone all the time. And when they finally have had enough, well, there you have it.
Change can come. But there are a lot of powerful people who are set upon the status quo who will do everything in their power to stop it by any means and for as long as they can.
And this is what leads societies to historically significant moments.
