There’s something happening here. What it isain’t exactly clear.
The words of Buffalo Springfield in the ‘60s anthem “For What It’s Worth” evoked social unrest in a turbulent time, even if they were penned more in response to Los Angeles street riots than Vietnam.
But the lyrics have resonated for decades in part because they can apply to so many social trends difficult to comprehend as they evolve. The 2016 presidential campaign to date may be revealing one of those trends, spiced with a genuine touch of revolutionary spirit.
We all keep laughing at Donald Trump’s chutzpah, the apparent silliness of his entire pseudo-campaign. Yet he keeps growing stronger in the polls. His supporters say Trump gives loud voice to the concerns of many Americans tired of half-hearted, diplomatic solutions.
On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders’ unabashedly ultra-liberal style has his poll numbers surging against the long-presumed nominee, Hillary Clinton. People laugh at Sanders’ absent-minded professor mien in dismissing his candidacy as little more than a chance to raise the public profile of a few pet issues. But his supporters see in him someone who truly understands the dangers of the nation’s escalating wealth gap.
There’s a long way to go. The “anyone-but-Clinton” movement has picked up serious steam and may draw other Democrats like Vice President Joe Biden into the race, dampening the Sanders’ spark. The Republican field will inevitably be winnowed down even before we reach 2016, and the coalescing of voters around some of the survivors figures to reel in Trump.
So this may not last. But why is it happening even now?
We like what Sanders brings to the campaign table, beating the drums on issues that need to be voiced. We can’t be as enthusiastic about Trump, but a lot of people like what he’s selling. Still, a nation ruled by their extremes and eccentricities on either side of the aisle would serve the interests of precious few. The two-party system is designed to encompass large cross-sections of values and philosophies and to avoid control by extreme ideologies. Sanders and Trump in their own ways represent those dangerous extremes. If we’re headed toward that kind of choice, we’re in trouble, regardless of the winner.
But Sanders and Trump also reflect a nation sick to death of the bitter partisanship, the relentless deceptions and obsequious deference to money and power that poisons modern politics. It all feels like one enveloping lie, a game we’re forced to play over and over again. From that mud pile Sanders and Trump come across as candidates who are simply saying what they think and believe, and letting the chips fall where they may. There’s something refreshing about that, and voters who don’t have to make areal choice for president this early in the process are embracing that.
If somehow this could herald a more forthright era in politics, America would be a better place. But where this is headed just ain’t clear.
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