In response to an FT article by Martin Wolf on 1st March 2016, entitled 'How great republics meet their end'
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/743d91b8-df8d-11e5-b67f-a61732c1d025.html#ixzz41gOL7QLV
Even if everything you say about Donald Trump is true Mr. Wolf - you are still missing the point.
This isn't about Donald Trump. Look around you and you will see a trend unfolding across continents - a backlash against 'establishment politics' and 'career politicians' right across the globe. Independence movements, referendums, 'populist' and 'fringe' parties gaining traction in every region you look at. But nowhere, it seems, will you find the ‘victims’ of this backlash asking themselves some fundamental questions, like - How did we screw up? What have we done, and not done? Why are people so angry? What has led to this state of disgust with our doings? For that is what it is Mr. Wolf - disgust. And I share it.
I would no more vote for Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen, or indeed any Mr. Nut-Job from the right or Mr. Fruit-Cake from the left. But I do understand why people do, and it's not because of the wonderful attributes of Messrs. Nut-Job and Fruit-Cake, neither is it due to the moral or intellectual failings of the folks who vote for them. It's a symptom of disgust with the basic political model on offer, in this case in the US. The deal goes like this:
'Hi, my name is Mr. Snake-Oil, and I'm running for office. I represent the Demopublican Party. I need your votes and Wall Street money in order to get elected. So I will appear to listen intently, I will make you all sorts of promises, and then when I get to Washington, I will ignore you and serve the money that put me there - can I count on your vote?
The disgust is real Mr. Wolf, and no amount of neo-liberal, neo-conservative or even neo-Keynesian 'bull' will deal with it. You want to deal with it? Challenge the remoteness, the smugness, the ignorance, and most of all, the corruption of mainstream politicians. Take a look Mr. Wolf - take a good hard look and see if you still think Hillary Clinton is the answer. The difference between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton is he got there making bribes, she got there taking them. The system is rotten to the core Mr. Wolf. Corrupt.
Do you want to help with that? Here's a starter-for-ten:
a) Buy your establishment pals a mirror and advise them to have a good look
b) Teach them three new phrases that may stick in their throats until they've relearned how to be normal people: 'I was wrong', 'I'm sorry', and 'I don't know'
c) Tell them to advocate for term limits, and a total cleanup of campaign financing
d) If they forget why people are upset with them, here's a quick reminder:
"Because you've spent years making unfunded promises (AKA bribes) to get elected, you've made sure your 'mates' got rewarded in the process, you've screwed up the implementation, protected your 'mates' when it went belly-up, and transferred the bill to the tax-payers. Because this time, when you bound back onto the stage with your latest 'solution'...people won't believe you any more"
If they have a good look in the mirror, they just might learn something from the backlash that is gathering pace across the globe.
Otherwise they can carry on whinging, whining, and scratching their heads; looking for something, anything, to blame but themselves...they can watch whilst their backsides get removed from those nice comfy seats they thought belonged to them. They don't.