The Iowa Caucus has come and gone. Winners have been announced, Losers have voiced their frustrations. Of course, in most cases the losers were not big losers so long as they walked away with delegates. Iowa has painted a very clear landscape for this political season: the American people are tired of dealing with "The Establishment." I personally appreciated the results on many levels, but Iowa's results still require a lot of explaining.
On the Republican end, Ted Cruz pulled an upset over Donald Trump (the candidate predicted to win). This should not have been as surprising as it was in Iowa. But let's start with the obvious. An establishment candidate did not come anywhere close to winning Iowa. Sure, you might say that Marco Rubio was only 1 point behind Trump, finishing a close third, but is Rubio truly establishment? It's speculative, but I would say that there is much about him that separates him from your typical mainstream career Republican. Regardless, under Rubio was Dr. Ben Carson. In no way can it be argued that the retired Neurosurgeon is part of the Republican Establishment. If you accept my premise, the top 4 candidates were non-establishment and all of the rest couldn't break 5% in Iowa.
On the Democrat end, Hillary nipped Bernie Sanders. Some might say that this was a serious blow to the Sanders campaign, but I beg to differ. Here's a guy who was trailing by somewhere around 30 points in December. December! That was barely a month ago! Combine that with lots of the strange unexpected twists that ultimately resulted in a Hillary victory and one ought to conclude that coming as close as he did to defeating Hillary was not half bad. Did I mention that Bernie is not what you would call your conventional Democrat? The common link is that people are fed up with Establishment politicians. What do both sides of the aisle expect from their elected officials?
The outcry of voters is very easy to understand, we want politicians who will follow through with their promises.
In 2008 one of the biggest promises Obama failed to deliver on was affordable health care. Remember, your premiums, according to Obama, were supposed to drop $2500. With few exceptions that vast majority of Americans are paying about that much more for less coverage than they had through their previous "substandard" plans." What's more, lots of voters expected single payer healthcare. Now, I don;t specifically recall if that was promised, but it was well understood that Obama wanted to push healthcare into a single payer system where the government pays the bill. Obama has left his base in want with his inability to deliver a true single payer system.
In 2010 and 2014, Republican voters made their voices deafeningly loud, "REPEAL OBAMACARE!" In 2010 Congressional candidates promised that they would go to Washington and repeal Obamacare. They demolished their Democratic rivals in the midterm elections, but their confidence change once they took the majority in the House. Their confident boast that they would repeal Obamacare became, "We can't repeal Obamacare. We need the Senate." It was a lame excuse, but whatever. In 2014, Republicans took back the Senate and the New Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, immediately made a statement to the American people that, "Today, the American people have made it clear that they want Washington to work." Um, yes, Washington working would be a good thing...working for the people who elected those who occupy various offices, that is. Then he went on to say that Republicans would go to work, crossing the aisle and working with the Democrats. Why on earth, after two years of being subject to a Democrat Super Majority, would the election of a Republican House and a Republican Senate indicate that the American people wanted Republicans to get along with Democrats? Sounds to me like they wanted to defeat the Democrats. Republicans went to Washington and vowed not to stop a single thing Obama wanted to do. Under such circumstances, the Democrats have accomplished more than what they did in their Super Majority years through a Majority Republican Congress! Something smells fishy. Enter: our presidential hopefuls.
The Outsiders of the Republicans and Democrat Bernie Sanders share one thing in common: They are going to tell you exactly what they are going to do once elected. How do we know this?
Starting with Republican front-runner, Donald Trump. Question his motifs all you want, but we all know it would be much more profitable for him to stay in the business world. Immediately after entering the campaign friends and associates abandoned him left and right due to his stance on illegal immigration. If you've listened to any of the things Trump has said, it would not make sense for him to lie. The guy admitted to essentially paying off politicians in his first national debate! I don't say that to defame him; I say that because lying about that would only hurt him. I believe he truly desires a strong America.
Ted Cruz. To me he is the easiest candidate to authenticate. He's only been in the Senate since 2013 (elected in 2012) and has done things their that have made him very unpopular among Establishment Republicans. He fought Obamacare, he fought granting illegals amnesty, he fought the planned parenthood scandal. He was blamed for shutting down the government by not voting to raise the debt ceiling. All of the other Republicans buckled, but he stood his ground and kept his word to those who elected him.
Rubio is the sketchiest of the four top Republicans, but I believe that overall he is solid. He was a Tea Party candidate back in 2012 who vowed to end the corruption in Washington politics upon his election. Unfortunately he was snagged up early to write the infamous "Gang of Eight Bill" that would forever be an albatross around his neck (a bill that sought to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants already in America). But when you hear this guy speak, he sounds nothing short of a pure conservative, I'm going to grant him amnesty as, if not an Outsider, a conservative.
Dr. Ben Carson made his entrance into the political arena by rebuking President Obama at the National Prayer Breakfast. He made headway for his alternative healthcare proposal and was hailed or his boldness in confronting the most powerful man in the world. Even next to giants like Trump, Carson is the most accomplished man in this entire race. I would say more, but where do I start.
Then there's Bernie. He appeals to my generation that has been loaded up with student debt and then released into a dismal job market. When I say dismal, there really are lots of jobs out there, which are ripe for the picking. The problem is, I didn't spend 7 years in school at my expense to earn less than $30,000 a year. It is a generation that truly is over-educated and underemployed. As a result, an entire generation has been saddled with debt that they will be paying off the rest of their lives through jobs that require far less training than what they paid for. Like it or not, Bernie wants to stick it to the rich and compensate the low earners of America. He calls himself a socialist. True, most Democrats are definite socialists, but they try to hide it which often results in unfulfilled promises. In the past, nobody wanted to be labeled a socialist, not even Obama in the 2012 election. That is why Establishment Democrats fear him. He wants to follow through with his promises, which might really tick off the big money donors of the Democrat party.
This is just a snapshot of what is happening in this year's election. There is still a long ways to go before the picture becomes as clear as possible. But as long as things continue to proceed as they are, one thing is for sure. This is not going to be a good year for the Establishment on either side of the aisle.
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