Republicans or Democrats – does it matter?

Some things are so plainly obvious it’s hard to imagine another interpretation. 

For one, the Republican establishment is inept. It’s proven it has no clue how to pick a candidate for President, much less how to govern this country. The Republican Party is eating itself, torn between go-along-get-along types protecting the status quo and radicals bent on burning it down. There’s no middle ground; no room for compromise – not that compromise is the right answer. 

The Democrats have a better grasp of how to wield and maintain power, mainly by playing to the public’s desire for free stuff, but are equally inept at governing the country.

Democrats win all the legislative battles for two reasons: they never break ranks while Republicans always do; next, however awful the Democrat ideas, Republicans have no ideas. And by sticking together, Democrats can make those awful ideas a reality.  

For some unknown reason, Republicans can’t understand that. 

The Republican establishment favors the rich – the so-called donor class.  So does the Democrat establishment but hides it better. Both political establishments have been corrupted by big money, whether that’s from big corporations, big unions, big banks or Wall-Street types. 

Both claim to represent the working class; in reality neither gives a tinker’s damn about the working class.  The same goes for the poor.  Both are eager to spend money we don’t have to reward their donors and supporters and blame the other for out of control spending. 

The head of the RNC – Reince Priebus – is clueless.  The head of the DNC – Debbie Wasserman-Schultz – is a lunatic; you don’t need to be a psychiatrist to figure that out. 

By now it appears Hillary will be the Democrat nominee for President.  She’s a liar and weasel with absolutely no record of achievement in any government job she’s had, whether that’s as U.S. Senator or Secretary of State.  No one can name a single thing she’s done except to be born a woman. That's her signature achievement.  

On the Republican side it’s anybody’s guess.

Trump is entertaining but can you really imagine him as President?  Carson’s the smartest guy in the race but too low key – plus it’s hard to take someone seriously who believes the Earth is only about 6000 years old.  Cruz panders too much to the pro-lifers, religious right, and xenophobes.  Rubio’s interesting but too in bed with the establishment and donor class, as is Jeb, in an election cycle probably focused on punishing the political establishment.    

Who is left?  Who cares?  And does it really make a difference?  Neither Republicans nor Democrats know what they are doing.  That’s also obvious.     

The last two Presidents prove my point. 

George W. Bush gets credit for bringing the country together after 9/11.  But he also got us into ill-advised and ill-planned wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that cost a trillion dollars for essentially nothing in return except to increase sectarian tensions in the region. Obama managed to make that worse by prematurely pulling out our troops and then vacillating on what we would do in the region, which opened the door to ISIS. 

In the end, George W. Bush was naïve to think the Middle East longed for democracy and wasted our blood and treasure to find that out; Obama’s lead-from-behind policies have made the U.S. appear weak in a world that only respects power and force.  

The naiveté of one and the arrogance of the other helped to advance Iran’s and Russia’s interests and prestige in the Middle East at our expense. 

Let’s turn to the economy. 

Both parties conspired to artificially increase home ownership. Both parties agreed the best way to do that was to allow more low-income people to qualify for mortgages. Bush was on board with this.  With his support Congress passed laws and Federal agencies enacted regulations that eased banking rules and lowered standards for loan qualifications.  This all led to the subprime lending crisis largely responsible for wrecking the economy.  

When the bottom fell out – as it was certain to do – Bush initiated the first of the financial bail outs.  Obama took over from there and squandered more than a trillion dollars bailing out GM and Chrysler, the banks and Wall-Street firms, keeping state and municipal employees from layoffs and expanding the public sector, and on shovel-ready jobs that never materialized. 

All of that money went down the tubes to try to rectify a wholly predictable disaster created and fostered by both parties.  For nothing. 

Many economists now believe the economy would have recovered faster and our national debt wouldn’t be as high if Bush and Obama had simply not intervened in the housing market, the banking industry, and bailed out GM and Chrysler which went through bankruptcy anyway.

What about healthcare? 

Bush managed to pass a costly prescription drug benefit we couldn’t possibly pay for. Obama went on to pass ObamaCare – which essentially destroyed the world’s most efficient healthcare system – and is proving to be a bottomless money pit.

It’s as Lewis Black once said:  The Republicans say “I’ve got a really shitty idea.” Then the Democrats say:  “Oh yeah?  Well I can make it even shittier!”

Don’t get me wrong. I liked George W. Bush and his family personally, but he wasn’t a very good President.  He respected the office and brought dignity back to the White House after the Clintons turned it into a kind of hillbilly whorehouse full of Jerry Springer wannabes. And for that he and Laura deserve credit.  However, in hindsight, he’ll be remembered more for his errors.   

I don’t like Obama and his family at all.  Obama’s not a very good President either.  In fact, by almost any measure he’s an awful President – where Bush at times came off as a shoot-first cowboy, Obama comes off as all hat and no cattle.   

For the life of me, I cannot understand why so many people still believe Obama will be remembered as one of our greatest Presidents, ever.  The best he’ll be remembered for is being the first black U.S. President.  Beyond that I’m at a loss to see his “greatness.” He didn’t rescue the economy, he’s piled up debt, he’s put more people on food stamps and disability, his ObamaCare isn’t working, he’s diminished our power and prestige around the world, he’s emboldened our adversaries, jeopardized our national security, and enacted policies that cut real household income dramatically. 

In any other universe he’d be run out of town.    

But I’m falling into the trap of ignoring the obvious. Truth is, nobody cares.  

The next election, despite what you may think, will not be a battle between Republicans and Democrats, or between liberals and conservatives. 

It will be among supporters of the status quo, nominally Republicans or Democrats, but essentially the same, much like vanilla and French vanilla ice cream. 

There are no revolutionaries in this battle.  Nobody is offering big, bold ideas to change the trajectory of the economy, the way government works, or how we defend ourselves against the barbarians at our gates or those already here. Nobody wants to take the risk of alienating anyone.

Well, except for Trump. But he’s a sideshow. He gets a lot of press by saying outlandish things.  The media love to give him the spotlight because – as the leader in the Republican polls – by association he makes all Republicans look like bigoted, obnoxious blowhards. Trump’s the best weapon anyone could ask for to turn off potential moderate and independent voters, which, for the record, make up the largest part of the voting public.

People support Trump because they hate the way the Republican and Democrat establishments are running the country.  They’re also fed up with political correctness.

It’s antiestablishmentarianism.  The population doesn’t want anarchy, but it wants serious, thoughtful change to a corrupt system.

I don’t see anyone running right now who is willing to pick up the challenge.