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Cheap Seats 2016Revolution? By Rich Trzupek
Revolutions are funny things. In retrospect, they generally appear to be inevitable and inevitably successful responses to unjust or irresponsible rulers. But history demonstrates that successful revolutions do not always bring justice and just revolutions are not always successful.
The Russian Revolution, the French Revolution and Pol Pot’s Cambodian Revolution are just a few examples of the former. The regrettable failures we know today as the Green Revolution in Iran, Tiananmen Square in China and the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 are sad reminders of the latter.
Of course revolutions don’t necessarily involve bloodshed. Sometimes revolutions are strictly about ideology. In America some would-be ideological revolutionaries fail miserably. Search for names like William Jennings Bryan, Eugen V. Debs, Emma Goldman and Ross Perot for examples. Some revolutionaries are very successful, sometimes for good, like Ronald Reagan and Martin Luther King Jr., and sometimes not so much, like Andrew Jackson and Saul Alinsky.
This election cycle may result in another, peaceful, ideological revolution or it may not. And, the divide among us politically boils down to whether this revolution is necessary and beneficial.
We start here: it’s a complicated world and both sides of the American political spectrum today accuse their opponents of over-simplifying complex issues in order to market themselves to those who are vulnerable to (take your pick) simple-minded, emotional, prejudiced or wholly selfish appeals.
In that world, the candidate that does the best job of reducing complex issues to the simplistic solutions that appeal to the most voters has the best chance of being elected. Ronald Reagan’s genius was his ability to simplify the complex in a way that American voters found both appealing and trustworthy.
George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush both tried, in their own ways, to duplicate Reagan’s genius, with – obviously – less success. Both father and son felt the need to veer leftward to deliver their message effectively and the result of doing so, both in terms of the future of the conservative movement and measureable effects regarding American prosperity and security were not especially successful.
Look, I admire both HW and W for their efforts. Each tried to carve a path through the center that would lean enough to the right so as to deliver a result that would beneficial to us all. Blame it on mainstream media bias, Millennial voter naiveté, voter laziness or a combination of all three, that strategy has ultimately failed those of us on the right. Jeb Bush, quite foolishly, has formally dissociated himself from candidate Trump, apparently – and correct me if I’m wrong Jeb – because he believes that sticking to the failed, albeit noble, formula his father and elder brother used to try to guide America toward a better place is still worth the investment.
I’ve got less sympathy for Cruz. In terms of goals and policy, I have identified with Ted more than any other candidate in this election cycle. I wish he could have been the Republican nominee, but I find his excuse to recant on his pledge to support the eventual GOP nominee more disturbing.
Ted said that he couldn’t back Trump because the Donald said mean things about his family. Families have been fair game in Presidential elections since John Quincy Adams supporters decided to make the moral character of Andy Jackson’s wife a campaign issue. Wish it wasn’t that way, but it is and Ted knows it. His non-endorsement smacked much more of petulance than principle.
Which brings us to Donald Trump and an election that may or may not be another revolution. It is likely the last time baby-boomers like me will have an opportunity to have substantial influence on the election of a President and the direction of the country. Like our parents’ generation before us, we will soon begin to fade away, passing the torch to a new generation of leaders. What they will have to work with largely depends on whether this last, audacious, insane and marvelous attempt to find an anti-politician to lead a revolution will be successful or not.
E-Mail: rich@examinerpublictions.com
www.threedonia.com
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