Contributor Post Created with Sketch. Ross Perot’s Lessons for Today

 

perot-resizedIn Fiddler on the Roof, the milkman Tevye imagines what life would be like “If I Were a Rich Man.” Among the shrewder lyrics is the insight that “the most important men in town will come to fawn on me” and pose questions that would “cross a rabbi’s eyes.” Why? Because “When you’re rich, they think you really know.”

One cannot guess how much credibility Donald Trump gains through his reputation for business acumen, but it’s safe to say, quite a lot. He trades, both in entertainment and in politics (if there’s still a distinction) on his reputation as a tycoon, which may be one reason for his refusal (despite pledges) to release his tax returns. Trump’s “brand” is everything. When Tim O’Brien authored a book questioning Trump’s net worth, Trump sued him and after lengthy litigation, lost.

Americans have always revered successful businessmen, but you might suppose that after the Ross Perot experience, they’d have acquired a bit of skepticism about the sort of wealthy men who elect to parachute into presidential races.

On paper, Perot was far more suited to the Oval Office than the reality TV star who currently bestrides the Republican Party. Perot was raised in modest circumstances, served honorably in the US Navy, married his college sweetheart, started his own business (Electronic Data Services), received a medal for Distinguished Public Service for his efforts to secure the release of US prisoners of war in Vietnam, and personally rescued two EDS employees who were held hostage in Iran. He sold his business to GM for $2.5 billion, so he was a bona fide billionaire.

He had a straight-talking style. Neither Democrat nor Republican, he disparaged the intelligence of all elites and leaders. His favorite putdown, delivered with a West Texas drawl, was “Not too smart.” He would get “under the hood” and fix the country, he vowed. The wag who quipped “He’s a self-made man who worships his creator” could have had Perot in mind.

That’s not to say that Perot lacked public spirit. He was concerned about illegal immigration. He worried about our national debt and deficits. The nation probably owes some of the seriousness about budget balancing that characterized the 1990s to him. He favored easels and white boards for making his points — assuming that the public was interested in the details of policy.

But there was another side to Perot which came into focus as his campaign unfolded. He was no economic genius. People presumed that because he was rich, he “really knew.” But his chief bugaboo, after deficits, was NAFTA. He famously predicted that if the free trade deal were signed, there would be a “giant sucking sound” of jobs leaving the U.S. for Mexico. It was signed and in the years following its enactment the US enjoyed an economic boom, creating 2 million jobs a year for six years starting in 1994. (Some jobs were lost, but on net the economy thrived.) Canada and Mexico benefited as well, with Mexico’s economy expanding enough to diminish the tide of illegal migrants seeking to cross the US border. Mexico now purchases more US goods than Brazil, Russia, India, and China combined.

It’s odd that people who’ve done well in business should imagine that commerce is unhealthy. This paranoia – a pull-up-the-drawbridge approach to the world — is the red thread that links the Perot and Trump worldviews and campaigns.

Perot’s populist appeals were eventually upstaged by his erratic behavior (he dropped out of the race and then jumped back in) and peculiar obsessions. Like Trump, Perot was a devotee of conspiracy theories. He believed that the US Defense Department was running a vast guns and drug smuggling enterprise throughout Latin America and Southeast Asia. He was sure that Vietnam had sent a gang of Black Panthers to kill him and his family, and that Texas drug smugglers had targeted him as well. He explained his abrupt withdrawal from the presidential race on a plot by President George H.W. Bush to disrupt his daughter’s wedding.

Belief in conspiracies conveys at best poor understanding and at worst mental instability. Trump has displayed the same weakness, endorsing the vaccines cause autism myth, the Obama born in Kenya canard, the Clintons killed Vince Foster rumor, the Rafael Cruz involved in the JFK assassination nonsense, and many more crackpot theories. Worst and most pernicious are the conspiracies he conjures himself – that the “system is rigged,” that thousands of American Muslims celebrated 9/11 but the footage has been suppressed, and that if he loses it can only be due to fraud.

Republicans were relieved in 1992 to see Perot unmasked as unstable. Perhaps, after 2016, they will fall out of love with addled businessmen forever.

There are 11 comments.

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  1. Kozak Member
    Kozak Joined in the first year of Ricochet Ricochet Charter Member
    • #1
    • September 1, 2016, at 1:34 PM PDT
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  2. Kay of MT Member

    I voted for Ross Perot, and am not sorry. I believed there was something evil in the Clintons. Perot was a bit addled, but not evil and hey, there was a gun running operation, remember, “fast and furious?” That wasn’t brand new with Obama. And the Clintons with their ilk are still evil.

    • #2
    • September 1, 2016, at 1:58 PM PDT
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  3. Freesmith Inactive

    Businessmen do have certain things to recommend them as leaders, even over well-educated career politicians, hard as that might be for our SAT meritocracy to recognize. For comparison:

    As a businessman Trump is a tax-payer; as a politician Hillary is a tax-eater.

    Trump has made billions delivering value to private individuals; Hillary has made millions promising other people’s money to groups.

    Trump is considered an outrageous self-promoter, but Hillary’s career is nothing except the promotion of her self.

    Trump has built skyscrapers, golf courses and world-class resorts – solid concrete things enjoyed and used by real flesh-and-blood people; Hillary has built nothing for others – her public career is bereft of accomplishments.

    To me that gives Trump a lot of credibility in this match-up.

    PS: I didn’t vote for Perot in ’92 or ’96. He proved he was too erratic by quitting the race in ’92. I voted Republican both times.

    • #3
    • September 1, 2016, at 2:55 PM PDT
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  4. Valiuth Member
    Valiuth Joined in the first year of Ricochet Ricochet Charter Member

    Kay of MT:I voted for Ross Perot, and am not sorry. I believed there was something evil in the Clintons. Perot was a bit addled, but not evil and hey, there was a gun running operation, remember, “fast and furious?” That wasn’t brand new with Obama. And the Clintons with their ilk are still evil.

    Well I just hope you aren’t one of the people saying that voting for Johnson is a vote for Hillary. As to the Fast and Furious you can’t get credit for preempting conspiracies, and even then that was not a conspiracy so much as the stupidest sting operation in history.

    • #4
    • September 1, 2016, at 2:57 PM PDT
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  5. Petty Boozswha Inactive

    I just learned last week that the “Birther” issue was first floated during the SC primary in 2008 by Hillary’s campaign, just as the Willie Horton issue was created by Al Gore during his campaign against Dukakis. I predict this will be more readily promoted by the MSM after she is elected.

    I agree that Perot and Trump are both oddballs, but I think Carly Fiorina showed that maybe we should expand the pool of potential candidates. I recall there was some enthusiasm for Lee Iaccoca back in the day – I would argue he would have been a much better Democrat President than most of the options offered in recent years.

    • #5
    • September 1, 2016, at 3:41 PM PDT
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  6. tigerlily Member

    Kay of MT:I believed there was something evil in the Clintons.

    We disagree on Perot; but, you were right about the Clintons.

    • #6
    • September 1, 2016, at 6:25 PM PDT
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  7. MJBubba Inactive

    Valiuth:

    Kay of MT:I voted for Ross Perot, and am not sorry. I believed there was something evil in the Clintons. Perot was a bit addled, but not evil and hey, there was a gun running operation, remember, “fast and furious?” That wasn’t brand new with Obama. And the Clintons with their ilk are still evil.

    Well I just hope you aren’t one of the people saying that voting for Johnson is a vote for Hillary. As to the Fast and Furious you can’t get credit for preempting conspiracies, and even then that was not a conspiracy so much as the stupidest sting operation in history.

    A vote for Johnson is every bit as much a vote for Hillary, to the same extent that a vote for Perot turned out a win for Bill Clinton.

    • #7
    • September 1, 2016, at 7:31 PM PDT
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  8. Kay of MT Member

    MJBubba: A vote for Johnson is every bit as much a vote for Hillary, to the same extent that a vote for Perot turned out a win for Bill Clinton.

    I didn’t realize that, so won’t make the same mistake again. I am voting for Trump, and wish it was Scot Walker, or Carly, or Cruz, or anybody but Sue!

    • #8
    • September 1, 2016, at 8:40 PM PDT
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  9. Herbert defender of the Realm,… Inactive

    Petty Boozswha: I just learned last week that the “Birther” issue was first floated during the SC primary in 2008 by Hillary’s campaign, just as the Willie Horton issue was created by Al Gore during his campaign against Dukakis. I predict this will be more readily promoted by the MSM after she is elected.

    From what I have read, this isn’t true, you have a source for that?

    • #9
    • September 2, 2016, at 5:54 AM PDT
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  10. OldDanRhody's speakeasy Member

    I voted for Perot in 1992 because he was the only one who would talk about the national debt: both the Republicans and the Democrats were all “business as usual,” and we know how that all worked out re national debt.

    • #10
    • September 2, 2016, at 8:36 AM PDT
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  11. Steven Seward Member

    I think Mona brings up a very important point about Perot and Trump being against free trade. I have noticed a very disturbing trend among the electorate, including Republicans and Conservatives, that the U.S is getting screwed due to our trade deals. I think this is a sort of “economic illiteracy.” People’s perceptions are skewed by the outsourcing of low-skilled jobs that go overseas, as this is a very easy statistic to comprehend. What is just as real, but more difficult to see is the insourcing to the U.S. of more high-tech jobs from overseas. For instance, over 95% of the Honda cars sold in the U.S. are actually made in North American Plants. (Maybe the Japanese are complaining about outsourcing to America?) As Mona points out, the big economic spurts in the U.S. defy the critics.

    Another advantage to trade is that the cost of goods in our stores is enormously less than if we had to rely solely on U.S. manufacture. Americans enjoy an extremely high standard of living, and most will simply not work for low wages, because they can always receive more money from welfare payments. This is the main driving force of our illegal immigration from South of the border. It is little known that we currently have a near record number of unfilled jobs in our history – over 5 million! http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/09/news/economy/america-5-6-million-record-job-openings/

    • #11
    • September 2, 2016, at 9:31 AM PDT
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