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The Debate We Were Supposed to Have
The 2016 election was the grand battle conservatives had been hoping for since Ronald Reagan left the Oval Office. The roster of candidates was to be a who’s-who of smart, proven, center-right leadership.
Scott Walker would show how his gutsy union changes transformed a blue state, while Bobby Jindal shared how his school choice revolution changed Louisiana. Rick Perry could press his breathtaking jobs record and tell us how to “make Washington inconsequential in our lives.”
From the Senate, Tea Party constitutionalist Ted Cruz would bring the intellect, while Florida’s Marco Rubio brought the heart. Add Rand Paul to energize the growing conservatarian wing, and the trio would appeal to the young, minorities, and independents.
Moderate Chris Christie would reach out to northeastern voters once considered out of reach for the GOP while Carly Fiorina and Ben Carson added an outsiders’ perspective from the worlds of technology and medicine.
No more settling for uninspiring match-ups like Mitt Romney vs. Herman Cain, John McCain vs. Mike Huckabee, or Dubya vs. Alan Keyes. 2016 was going to be about Big Ideas on turning around a debt-ridden, war-weary, stagnant superpower. A policy wonk’s dream.
Even better, Republicans could finally laugh at the Democratic primary featuring a corrupt Clinton, a socialist Sanders, and a Bidenesque Biden. Imagine the contrast of tired old Democrats yelling about microaggressions and wiped email servers, as fresh, dynamic Republicans addressed high-level social and economic policy.
It would be obvious to the electorate that Republicans were the only party with the vision, with the heart, and with the intelligence to lead the nation.
Instead, here are the political headlines of Summer 2015:
- Trump on McCain: “I like people who weren’t captured”
- Trump on Megyn Kelly: “There was blood coming out of her… wherever.”
- Trump: Rick Perry “should be forced to take an IQ test” before debate
- Trump is going to war with Scott Walker after being called “DumbDumb” by one of his supporters
- Trump on Fiorina: “Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?”
- Trump on Heidi Klum: “She’s no longer a 10.”
These are the lofty policy debates dominating the presidential election of a 21st century superpower. We aren’t discussing America’s $18.4 trillion national debt and our insolvent social programs. The stagnant economy and an expansionist China, Russia, and Islamic State. Burning cities at home and burning countries abroad.
Instead we’re trading GIFs of a reality show star on “The Tonight Show,” giggling about menstruation, and wondering if the most impressive GOP field in a generation are a bunch of “dummies” or if they’re a bunch of “losers.”
These are serious times. We are not a serious people.
Published in General
That article is long, but really interesting. Thanks for sharing it.
Their proposal would be such a drastic shift from our current process that it’s sort of difficult for me to imagine it happening; I wonder if anyone is suggesting more incremental reforms that might be more likely to gain traction.
I don’t think the founders could have foreseen how our press directs the nation, through what they choose to report and through what they fail to report. They probably didn’t foresee a completely one-sided press either. “Let truth and falsehood grapple!” as Milton said. But truth doesn’t often get a chance to even climb into the ring.
However, the internet has proven to be a great equalizer in terms of getting information out there. It’s still an uphill battle against the left-wing media, and there’s a problem with people staying within their own selected media bubbles.
The founders probably assumed a better educated populace and a less trivial one as well.
But the press is absolutely controlling the steering wheel of the nation.
Of course its going to be the Trump show. The entire field egged on, by the media and the anti-trump brigade, have decided that this debate is to be an unfunny roast of Donald Trump.
Which will of course reinforce the perception that they are increasingly desperate losers flailing around; which is of course a perfectly accurate description of reality.
Instalanche: “THE DEBATE WE WERE SUPPOSED TO HAVE: At Ricochet, Jon Gabriel looks back…”
Obama has dumbed down the Office by adopting the personna of a game show host. He has cleverly used his smile and his strut to do what he promised (after the election) to do: to transform America. The day of the policy wonk as President is over. The polis wants bread (transfer payments) and circuses (Obama).
Trump is another showman who at least shares some of our values. And
he loves America. So while he mirrors Obama, he is also his antithesis.
The Wall Street and hedge fund boys loathe Trump, so he can’t be all bad.
Listen to the podcast from yesterday on polling of trump supporters, it adds a note of optimism. Here’s the plan. Bush gets out, Paul and Jindal go down trying to take Trump out, while they fail, they strengthen the anti trump majority. It will be a worthy sacrifice. Then Carly, Cruz, Rubio, Carson and Walker sort it out among the adults. Ending with Carly/Rubio, Cruz as Atty General, subsequently appointed to the Supreme Court after firing everyone in Justice hired during the Obama Administration, and Carson at HHS. Walker can take over deregulation, starting with the DOL and the NLRB. A dream?,ok how about Bush gets out taking Trump with him tossing his money into the pot.
CNN Spends 78 Percent of Prime Time GOP Campaign Coverage on Trump.
And if you think that sounds bad, when you compare the numbers, it looks even worse.
580 minutes! Jeb, in second place for coverage, gets only 88 minutes. Carson (currently in second place nationally in polling averages) gets only 41 minutes.
The left-wing media is absolutely choosing the GOP Candidate.
I don’t disagree with how bad this is, but I also wonder: How is it that the more I see Trump on TV the less I like him?
Lampooning the fringe right and fixating on them is how the Leftist media paints conservatives as evil, knuckle-dragging buffoons. They are damn good at it, too. That’s why my generation (18-24 year olds) is voting for Sanders. It’s because the GOP is bad, and socialists are good! Free* stuff is what we need!
*If by free you mean middle-class taxpayers bearing the brunt of the weight
I’ll put the comments over the century mark with this brilliant observation:
I just realized that Donald Trump is nothing more than a richer, better-dressed Cliff Clavin.
You tweeted a picture of Donald Trump and Al Sharpton together to emphasize Trump’s unsuitability for the presidency. This is definitely another strike against Trump.
Have you also noted that Rand Paul met with Sharpton in 2014?
I think that an important aspect of talk radio is entertainment. To the extent that talk radio is entertainment their hosts are entertainers. Entertainers take care not to make themselves unmarketable.
I suppose that it is to be expected that, as entertainers, they, on occasion, might say things that they don’t fully believe. I want to think that this might be one of them.
While I agree that Trump is doing a service for the Clintons am not sure that I would characterize this as “work”. I suppose that there might be an understanding between Trump and the Clintons–you might even call it a deal–that should Hillary be elected she would be positioned to return a favor.
Recall that Bill Clinton called Trump and encouraged him to run for the GOP nomination? And as we all know, the Clintons are always on the lookout for ways to help the GOP out. “Out” in the sense of, “By the way, which way did you come in?”
Since much of Trump’s campaign style involves troll-worthy antics I agree that Trump has earned being characterized as a troll.
That said, the phrase Judas Goat, as a metaphor, is a much better fit for the role I believe Bill Clinton had on his mind when he suggested to Trump, in their phone call, that he should run.