Revelation

So what has this election revealed about America and the American political system today? I would suggest at least the following:

1.      That George Washington was right in his farewell speech about the dangers of political parties:

“However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”

2.      That the ruling elites of both political parties, living for the most part in exclusive and expensive East Coast enclaves isolated from the rest of America, have gotten pretty far out of touch with the life of average American voters, and the concerns of those votes.

3.      That both parties have lost control of their nominating process, at least for the presidential candidates. Trump, an outsider, completely destroyed the Republican field, and Hillary’s insider connections with the DNC and the press ensured that no candidate could possibly displace her this time like Obama did last time, despite how unpopular she is with the majority of the voters of both parties.

4.      That the mainstream press outlets are now pretty much completely subservient to one party or the other, and hardly a dependable independent voice anymore, if they ever were.

5.      That the Justice Department and the FBI are apparently now susceptible to political influence. The DOJ was always suspect in this regard, since the Attorney General is a political appointee, but the FBI used to be better than this.

6.      That neither party has a viable plan for any of the major issues facing the nation: ISIS and terrorism, the Middle East wars, the new aggressiveness of Russia and China, stimulating the economy, the growing national debt, healthcare costs, the lagging US educational system, repairing our crumbling infrastructure, etc, etc.

This is not encouraging. We have ended up with two completely unsuitable presidential candidates (and in fact their major primary opponents were equally unsuitable), and no debate worth speaking of on the really important national issues. Nor do I see any prospect that this situation will improve, whichever candidate wins.