The political reformation …

Some years back Glenn Beck used a graphic divided in half to  demonstrate how the media and politicians view Americans – liberal or conservative; Republican or Democrat. 

Then he took the same graphic and redrew it to show 30% on the left, 30% on the right, and 40% in the middle – this, he said, is what really describes Americans. There are more of us in the middle – politically and philosophically – than at either extreme. 

If anything, since then, the middle has grown even more.

Today’s political establishment – be they Republican or Democrat – has become ossified. Each party has created their own separate orthodoxies. To be a “true” Republican or Democrat and get the support of the establishment you must adhere strictly to the orthodoxy of the party. Otherwise you are an apostate no longer worthy to worship at the church of your party. 

I use this religious analogy because the Republican and Democrat parties function like fundamentalist religious institutions. It’s a grievous sin to question party dogma.   

Republicans are now fighting over who is a “true conservative.”  Democrats are fighting over who is a “true progressive.” There are litmus tests for each.

True conservatives must be opposed to abortion in any form for any reason. They must oppose any form of gun control. They must be in favor of smaller government, strictly enforced borders, marriage as only between one man and one woman, cutting funds to Planned Parenthood, prayer in school or anywhere, a stronger military (increased military spending), and school vouchers.   

Ted Cruz hits on all of these.  

True progressives must be in favor of wealth redistribution (higher taxes on the rich), increasing the minimum wage, restrictions on gun purchases, no restrictions on abortions, student loan forgiveness, a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, free universal healthcare, reducing dependence on fossil fuels, increased funding for public schools, better salaries for teachers, and more expansive government entitlements. 

Hillary hits on all of these.  

But do you really want either one?  

Take a look at those lists again. 

What are you?  Are you a conservative or progressive based on these?  Is anybody truly one or the other?  Or do most of us have mixed opinions? 

That’s one reason Trump is winning. It’s a broad rejection by Americans to being held hostage to the rigid orthodoxy of either the far left or the far right.

Like it or not, we are experiencing a political reformation. Trump speaks to the ambiguity – if not animosity – many Americans have toward political correctness and business as usual. His mantra is simple: overthrow the status quo.  And it has traction.

A vote for Trump is a vote against both the Republican and Democrat parties.  It’s a vote against the media on both the left and the right.  It’s a vote against every politician now in Congress. He defies traditional categorization between liberal and conservative – he holds somewhat liberal positions on many social issues, and somewhat conservative positions on others. 

In short, he’s more like most Americans than the politicians trying to appease their far-left or far-right constituencies.  He also changes his mind from time to time – something we all do – and refuses to be locked into traditional Republican or arch-conservative, issues.

His supporters like Trump as a whole; not for one hot-button issue or another. They accept that they may disagree with him on some things, agree with him on others, but in the bigger picture the single issues are outweighed by what Trump as a whole represents – radical change. 

And that, in a nutshell, is what his supporters want. They don’t really care if he’s not 100% on every issue; as long as he tells them what he thinks, not just what they want to hear, he comes across as the only honest candidate running for President. 

That explains why the political establishment and media who continue to apply single-issue parameters to Trump are so often wrong.

Pundits predicted Trump would not get the support of evangelicals because he wasn’t strong enough on abortion, traditional marriage, and other core “family values” issues.  They were wrong; he won evangelicals in recent caucuses and primaries.  They also predicted Hispanics would never support him because of his desire to seal our border; again they were wrong as he’s getting more of the Hispanic vote all the time. He couldn’t win with women; again wrong.

The truth is, the pundits and media keep applying the wrong metrics to Trump. 

Trump’s turned his back on the big-money donors, wannabe king-makers, and political pundits in the Republican Party. He openly mocks Karl Rove, Mitt Romney and John McCain as political failures out of touch with reality. He doesn’t care what the Tea Party or the Club for Growth wants. He isn’t worried about alienating “the base.” He’s making a new base.    

While Democrats rail against the rich, he proudly promotes that he is rich – or “really, really rich” as he put it. He is unabashedly proud of what he is, unlike Mitt Romney who always seemed to try too hard to be “one of the people”; Trump’s not like other people and flaunts it.      

And he keeps winning without party support, as well as in the face of their opposition.    

All of the above is probably why he’s winning with the disaffected of both major parties and overwhelmingly with independents.  Whenever he’s on the ballot, the number of voters soars, and he’s winning the lion’s share of those. 

The Republican establishment worries he can’t beat Hillary, because in head-to-head polling Hillary beats him. 

Again, there’s more to the story.  That presumes Hillary supporters turn out to vote.  Right now there’s a dramatic enthusiasm gap between Republican primary and caucus voters and Democrats in the same events.  The spread is spectacular. 

In Iowa, about 1500 people turned out for the Democrat Caucus; over 180,000 for the Republican Caucus. In New Hampshire about 30% more Republican voters showed up than Democrats; and Hillary got clobbered almost two to one there by a 74-year old Socialist.

Get used to Trump folks.  The political reformation has begun.