Without Automatic Delegates, You Get The Donald J. Trump Shit Show!

This is the third piece in what I think the causes of the Donald J. Trump Shit Show have been. The first was that the GOP, in their idiocy, caused it. the second, I placed blame on the 30 years of talk Radio blow-hards. and this....well the system in which we vote, and how we have allowed it to be modified to current day primaries. I don't know if it will be the final, and I think there could be numerous reasons, but these three seem to have had a large part in it. Enjoy, and feel free to comment back.

All during the primary season, many in the Democratic party, (mostly Bernie Sanders supporters) were complaining about “Super” delegates; those delegates that are automatic due to being an elected official, party representative etc.   I will refer to these as “Automatic” delegates, rather than “Superdelegates”, because there simply isn’t anything super about them.  The have one vote, period. The argument against a system that has “Superdelegates”  is that it does not allow for a democratic election for the party’s presidential candidate. Poppy-cock!

Consider the Primary election for the 2016 GOP candidate.  There were a total of 17 candidates.  16 of those candidates were reasonable, viable, experienced and capable, some may even use the horrendous term, “establishment”candidates.  Of the 55 million registered republicans, the majority of the votes, of reasonable minded, astute voters, were dispersed among those candidates. Where the outlier, Donald J. Trump, received the plurality...NOT the majority, of voters; mostly from those whom were radicalized, angry, and anti establishment.  

Had there been fewer candidates, the reasonable vote would most likely have magneted towards the less radical outlier. Had there been an early endorsement of “Automatic” delegates of any one, two, or even three candidates, then it seems reasonable, that there would have also been a coalescence to those candidates of the voters as well.

What we need to ask ourselves, is how did our founding fathers plan for us to choose our candidates, and have we wandered too far from the ideas of those brilliant and insightful men, to the point that we now risk a despot desiring, demagogue running the executive branch of our country?  Exactly what our founders had striven to avoid.

In the first days of our nation, the intention was to not have parties. However, that did not last long at all.  The main goal though, was to ensure that a populist, a charlatan, or a demagogue did not reach the office of the Presidency.  Hamilton expresses “...that the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree, endowed with the requisite qualifications. Talents for….the little arts of popularity, may alone suffice to elevate a man to the first honors in a single state, but it will require other talents, and a different kind of merit, to establish him in the esteem and confidence of the whole Union.”

The intent was, and should remain, for those of common sense, not swayed by “the little arts of popularity” to chose those that will represent the constituents for the nomination of the Presidency.  Earlier in the Federalist Papers, 68, Hamilton stated that there should be, “..as little opportunity as possible to tumult and disorder.”   So while the greater majority despise the idea of a smoke filled room with party bosses choosing those who should be the nominee, we must have a format which safeguards us from an ignorant mass of voters choosing a person based on populist rants. Mussolini, Hitler, and numerous other tyrants and demagogues came to power because the mass thought direct democracy was the proper format to chose a leader and were swayed by the swoon of a madman.

Here is a fact that will slap you in the face like a cold wash-cloth…….We. do.not. live. in. a. direct. democracy. PERIOD! Our founding fathers realized that to do so, would be the ruin of a Nation. Direct democracies have always failed throughout history.  If you don’t believe this, then you need to go back and take more Civics classes, and brush up on your history.

To protect this Union, our system is set up with state and national representatives; those people we have deemed to be wiser than us, and whom have devoted their lives to study the issues, and make intelligent decisions based on the overwhelming information they have gathered. They devote their time, so we don’t have to. We cannot devote our time to making a living, putting food on the table, raising our children, contributing to our community and finding that leisure time to refresh the soul, AND be completely informed on all the issues without being a “professional” politician. It simply isn’t possible. Hell, I bet you have barely found the time to read this article, let alone digest far more informative pieces that bombast us in daily life.

Originally, it was those representatives that chose the candidates for the Presidency. There were no primaries at the time.  Eventually our system morphed, bit by bit, until we now find ourselves in this state by state primary selection process, weeding out candidates.

Democrats still have “Automatic” delegates; people who are party representatives on the state and national level, long time party members with great influence, and other notable figures of the state.  Bernie Sanders supporters protested the fact that there were Automatic Delegates, and proclaimed it, “Unfair!”, and “This isn’t democracy!” but right or wrong, those Automatic Delegates brought forth the candidate that they thought best represented the party as a whole, and the best chance to win.  

You can argue until the sun goes down and comes back up again a thousand times, that Bernie Sanders was the better candidate, but the fact remains, he was unable to convince a large enough number of “Superdelegates”.

Republicans DO have Automatic Delegates, but just a few of them; 3 from each state.  Had the republicans possessed a crucial stop-gap with Automatic Delegates, they would have been able to curtail the nomination of a person who is definitely NOT “endowed with the requisite qualifications”  

Talk Radio; The Ruination And Dumbing Down Of America. (And The Cause Of The Donald J. Trump Shit Show)

I have been focusing on why we are where we are with this horrendous novel,  The Donald Trump Shit Show. Recently I blamed the GOP for being so discombobulated that they couldn’t even put up a candidate that could outsmart or outwit the dunce of the class.

But as I give this some more thought, I ask what could have prompted 13 million people to vote for Donald J. Trump?  

We have a certain populace now that is so vehemently against anything with a capital D in front of it, they have a visceral hatred for anyone who is a Democrat, or even those called a moderate Republican…...Why?

It began around 1984. President Reagan riding the wave, already lifting the spirits of America after a recession, and having recently decimated the Democratic Presidential contender, Walter Mondale.  Rush Limbaugh, a former Disc Jockey, (who was fired and told that he would never make it as an on air talent) began his political commentary show in Sacramento, CA. Shortly thereafter, the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine- - (stations had previously been required to provide free air time for responses to any political, or controversial opinions that were said on the air.) allowed stations to broadcast commentary, without having to give equal time to opposing views. Rush soon gained popularity and became syndicated from NY, in 1988. One may note, that on his Wikipedia page, the first listing  for Rush is “Entertainer”.  ENTERTAINER!!!!!!  

Forgetting, or simply never realizing that radio talk shows are formatted to entertain and grow listenership, the audience bought into Rush and his diatribes, (no matter how inane they were) and repeated his rantings as fact at every family discussion or bar gathering.  Any argument that actually entailed facts, were rapidly refuted; for  studies show that attempts to refute false information often backfire and lead people to hold on their misperceptions even more strongly.  The dumbing down of America had taken a solid footing.

Hugh Hewitt proclaimed Rush the Grand Daddy who paved the road to the popularity of conservative talk radio. If you listened to Rush in the early days, you may remember, along with the entertaining segments signified with the appropriate tune, there also used to be an actual dialogue, with opposing views.  Rush proclaims he can win any argument with half of his brain tied behind his back.  And he tried. It wasn’t long, though, that he quit debating, and rapidly became an echo-chamber for those frustrated Americans, accepting calls mostly from people who simply regurgitated any argument he put forth.The Ditto-Head revolt began. Many of them, Americans who were, and are, going through hard times ultimately blaming the liberal agenda and immigration for their struggles.  

Unrestrained by the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine, Rush rapidly changed the way politics is discussed, perceived and conducted, all the while proclaiming the mainstream media as liberal and not to be trusted.  Americans throughout the country, driving in their car, or in their office in their quotidian lives, tuned in, and bought into his increasingly visceral diatribes against feminazis, liberals, the media, the Clintons, or any person or thing that did not fit into his scope of what the Republican Party should be and do.  Even moderate Republicans became the target. (For example,John McCain was targeted by Limbaugh and numerous others, as they mobilized  in favor of Mitt Romney in the 2008 election). The greater the visceral ranting, the greater his popularity and the more his listening numbers grew.

Soon, many more conservative or libertarian talk radio hosts joined in; Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Laura Ingraham, Michael Savage, and many more, all who raged against moderates and Democrats. The more outrageous they became, the greater the ratings. Across America, those that didn’t get tired of the one-sided, radical vehemence, cheered them on for more and bought into conspiracy theories, unsubstantiated claims, ( ie. the Vince Foster “murder” and cover-up,) and just plain erroneous reporting.  The populace thought of these as news sources, rather than entertainment, and the hosts made millions of dollars off of stirring up the masses into frenzies of anger.  We became lazy and stopped reading more than 140 characters at a time, and investigating the facts on our own.

Today, the likes of Limbaugh, Hannity and others support this demagogue they helped to bring to just one vote from the oval office; but there are others who actually attempt to talk reason into their Trump supporting audience….to tame the Frankenstein's Monster they had created. Sadly, it is too late.  Nothing can calm down an angry mob, for mobs show no sense of reason.  This was one of the greatest fears of  Alexander Hamilton and our founding fathers.

“There are seasons in every country when noise and impudence pass current for worth; and in popular commotions especially, the clamors of interested and factious men are often mistaken for patriotism” ….Hamilton.

The GOP Forced Donald Into This Shit Show!

Plenty of blame has gone around regarding this election and the consequence of Donald J. Trump becoming the Republican candidate.  The Media, for giving Trump so much air time, Obama/Congress, each for their obstinence, the list goes on. Frankly though, It lays solely on the GOP.  We can go into the history of the last twelve years, or even back to the 1980’s to discuss how we got to this point.  But tonight, I am lazy and don’t want to give a history lesson.

The fact of the matter, Donald Trump didn’t want to get this far.  That is documented truth. A March 28, 2016 open letter from former Trump communications director of a Super Pac for him, a person who knows him well, expressed as much.  For the primaries, he simply wanted to come in a good 2nd, and be done with it.  This would have given him a boost to his ego, fulfilled his blustery bragging of “Someday I’m going to run, and I will win”...and been able to go back to his cherry, three sentence required, world, where he could play spokesperson on the phone with the media, and give out tidbits on what DJT wanted you to know about some imagined, fantasy story on him.

Sadly though, the GOP, out of 16 other candidates, couldn’t muster one person...not one candidate that could out-wit a 3 year old mentality, and overcome the dysfunction of what their party has become. The sad reality of that, though, is that they had too many candidates running. Qualified candidates to be honest. At least reasonable candidates from the Republican point of view. And when you have that many options for reasonable people to choose from, then the reasonable, common sense vote gets spread out among those candidates, and the radical votes concentrates on the loony option. the GOP did not have enough common sense to see this coming, even though this has happened in local and national elections throughout history.

When 68% of the populace says that the country is headed in the wrong direction, but at the same time, President Barack Obama’s approval rating is at 52% or higher, who, then is to blame for that wrong direction we are going? Congress has an approval rating of 11%. The GOP controls both houses of Congress.  I think we found our answer.  

So out of 16 other GOP candidates, the electorate couldn’t find one choice that could convince them, that they were any better than a man who can’t comprehend world affairs, economic theories, social issues, or even complex sentences.

Donald tried.  He tried hard to lose it.  His weekly stumbles, racist rants, buffoon like diatribes, uncivil name calling, just weren't enough  to get it done.  He isn’t even good at losing apparently...or the rest of the party is so dysfunctional, it just couldn’t figure out how to overcome Donald’s tripping to the top.

So here he is, stuck with the nomination to an office that even he knows he has no business holding. He even tried to get John Kasich to be his Vice Presidential running mate, so Kasich could do all the work.  This is all well documented.  But his ego won’t let him quit. He is stuck. And you, GOP are stuck with the Tasmanian Devil wreaking havoc on your party, and leaving a wasteland.  There are ALWAYS consequences to your actions. Bye Bye GOP!