Posted on 01/02/2016 7:23:02 PM PST by kristinn
Every political movement has a tipping point. It goes too far, or it loses its original purpose -- or it becomes so self-enamored, under the influence of anger and mob rule, that ugliness shades all the good of its original intent.
Such is true of the populism that peaked this summer in America.
Years of incompetency and a tin ear at the White House, along with a Republican-controlled Congress accused of not accomplishing much, drove people to figuratively or literally shout, "Enough is enough!"
Never mind that many of the loudest shouters likely did not vote in 2008 or 2012 against Barack Obama. Or apparently they do not understand that, despite Republicans holding a sizeable House majority and a slim Senate majority, institutional voting rules often prevent those majorities from enacting sweeping changes.
With Donald Trump's emergence, and with a chorus of talk-radio hosts suddenly behind him, the mob-rule crowd deems everyone who was ever elected to office (with the exception of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas) to be a Republican-in-name-only or part of a dark establishment cult intent on crushing the souls of average white voters.
Never mind that this same GOP "cult" helped recruit candidates from a range of ethnic and racial backgrounds to run and win more than 900 additional state legislative seats, 70 additional congressional seats and more than a dozen additional governors races -- many of them in districts and states that Republicans once had no hope of competing for, let alone winning.
The mob-rule crowd gnaws on any piece of political red meat thrown out as truth, never checking to see what kind of flesh it just consumed. None of this represents true conservatism. All of it is pure populism, and it is radically contaminating conservatism's values.
(Excerpt) Read more at triblive.com ...
>>Every political movement has a tipping point. It goes too far, or it loses its original purpose — or it becomes so self-enamored, under the influence of anger and mob rule, that ugliness shades all the good of its original intent.
As far as I’m concerned the Tea Party has not gone nearly far enough and is nowhere near the tipping point.
Mobs that have gone too far and are well past the tipping point: the gay mob, the affirmative action mob, the welfare gimme dat mob, the punish the rich reward the lazy mob, the global warming mob, the celebrity worship mob, .....
What's frustrating is that only Cruz has figured out the obvious strategy. It is okay to disagree with Trump's specific proposals. Just don't dismiss/insult the perfectly valid anger Trump supporters have expressed, or you will forfeit their potential support in the general election even if you win the primary.
“The mob”. You can detect the contempt that they have for the people. They completely deserve our contempt
I agree that Trump is not a conservative. Lots of people, however, couldn’t care any less about party or ideology. I think people are starving for common sense leadership that is going to do what’s truly best for the country and its people. Whether it’s real or only perceived, that’s what Trump’s supporters see in him.
So true. So very well said.
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