Divisions

Majorities of Democrats consider Trump "the enemy," but an exactly equal majority of Republicans consider Democrats "the enemy."

That focus is to mis-state the problem, argues The American Interest:
The basic division in American politics today is not over the merits of President Trump. Many of those who voted for him believed that he lacked the moral grounding and gravitas that great Presidents must ultimately draw on. The division is between those who think that, before Trump, things were going just fine and the American elite was doing an excellent job and those who blame the rise of Trump on the failures and blindness of the so-called “meritocratic elite” who, they would argue, have been running the country into the ground.

In foreign policy, the United States has had two failed presidencies in a row.... Domestically, our leadership elite has watched passively as infrastructure decays, state and local pension systems accumulate unsustainable debt loads, the national debt inexorably climbs, and the social capital of the nation erodes.

There was no sign from the Clinton campaign that anybody understood that the nation’s path was unsustainable.
The cursus honorum has ceased to provide us with reliable leadership. We've had a nearly endless stream of people leading the government whose resume reads something like this: 'Ivy League, Ivy League grad school, Ivy League law school, minor post in government or Wall Street, bigger post in government or Wall Street.'

The way they have been trained to think isn't working.

3 comments:

J Melcher said...

Back up the resume'. Almost all these people went to private elementary schools -- and most of them also oppose charter schools, school vouchers, or any other means of providing parents more choices among elementary education options.

Honestly, I sometimes think the object to Harriet Miers was not SMU, per se, (as opposed to Yale or Harvard) but that SMU takes in a bunch of kids from the "choice" schools of Highland Park. (Parents "choose" the public school district of Highland Park ISD, Texas, by buying or renting a multi-million dollar 1400 square foot residence within the district's political borders.) So graduates of SMU actually have some contact with young people who, at least, played football against, did marching band competitions against, and otherwise encountered regular school district students from nearby, like-sized, public school districts in North Texas. Second-hand normalcy, if you like.

Ymar Sakar said...

Majorities of Democrats consider Trump "the enemy," but an exactly equal majority of Republicans consider Democrats "the enemy."

Great job. About 100+ years too late, but better late than never. Can't expect much out of humans.

Anonymous said...

WIell yes,

Harvard Grads make me want to puke, even if they are not in Government, but especially if they are in Govt postions...

Ivy Leagers? hmmm, I suppose they are working hard to be just like Harvard grads now that I think about it........

but then again I'm just a deplorable in fly over la la land, so what do I know..

_Mississippi