What I enjoy most about the Bernie Sanders campaign is how is has forced the Democrats to face their leftward tilt.  That the leader of the party, Ms. Schultz, and Ms. Clinton are either unable or unwilling to articulate the difference between a socialist and a democrat speaks volumes about how far left the party has shifted.

Of course part of the infatuation with Bernie is how repellant Hillary is.  Her corruption and lack of ethics is hard to ignore even from many fellow Democrats.

Trump on the other hand does not reveal a rightward tilt of the GOP, but something even worse.  Trump signifies a complete abandonment of principles (assuming he has actually has acquired governing principles)  for pragmatic results. I do not recall such rejection from the central conservative institutions and thinkers like National Review and George Will.    Cruz, Rubio and Bush do not try to out Donald the Donald. They stand solidly against him. Hillary tries pathetically to pander to Bernie’s base and her arguments against his extremism are something less than passionate.

Populist candidates generally do not win but they do often set the agenda, but usually only one party runs a populist. That both parties have strong populist trends is something new.

Donald has clearly made immigration the leading issue, regardless of how feckless his remedy is. Sanders has made inequality the issue while he fails to address how it remains after a century of progressive policies. They remain one tax increase or one purge away from utopia.

Trump thinks competence and confidence are more important than ideas and principles.  Sanders just thinks that the worst idea in government in a century is suddenly good if you put the word ‘Democratic’ in front it.  If history is any guide, and that is very debatable here, the Democrats have the advantage of unity- something GOP has long struggled to overcome and it certainly isn’t on their agenda now nor should it be,

Neither may make it across the finish line, but they have exposed great fissures in their respective party- which they both have only a very thin allegiance.

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