From whatever biased analysis I can render on Trump he seems to be a Progressive- much like Perot- He believes in strong central executive power, majoritarian democracy, pragmatism over constitutional  or economic principles, and charismatic leadership. As a pragmatic leader he will disappoint because he will change his approach often and will always find justification and rationalization which is the opposite of rationality.

He is neither a social conservative or a constitutional conservative and while he may differ from Hillary –today- on specific issues- he is very similar in his approach to government – but is far less sophisticated in the rules of the game.  We cannot afford a president who thinks out loud and minds his words so poorly and recklessly.

He has hijacked the Republican Party much as Bernie has hijacked the Democrats. The salient difference is that the Democrats have structured a defense with their super delegates. The Republican leadership has proven incredibly incompetent  is averting such a move.  Priebus must go.

Hubert Humphrey won the 1968 Democratic nomination without winning a single primary. He lost to Nixon 301 to 191 in electoral votes (Wallace got 46) but only 43.4% to 42.7% in popular votes, a mere 500,000 votes.  The people revolted and insisted on a more democratic primary and what they got was George McGovern who lost in a landslide.  520 to only 17 electoral votes and 61% to 37% in the popular votes. They learned their lesson.

With a less democratic primary you had LEADERS who selected candidates who had a chance of winning the general election. With a more democratic primary you have candidates who run far right or far left and have less chance of winning. What makes this cycle different is that both parties go to extremes. Trump, however, makes Hillary seem moderate.

The more democratic (small ‘d’) our primaries the more extreme the candidates and the greater is our partisan divide.

We are faced with a choice of two (or three) Progressives. There is no Constitutional conservative or classical liberal  candidate in sight, but I am not sure that it matters. There is certainly no social conservative and I believe they are  a dying breed anyway.

print