You Heard What The Man Said

The thing about democracy is that it deludes everyone into believing that there is no limit in the ambition to acquire political power (legitimately). And nowhere is this myth more firmly established -for such it is, a myth- than in the United States of America. Indeed, one of the enduring shibboleths that has captured the American imagination is that, no matter how low-born you are, you can rise to become president of the country. It is a sincere belief, but not one that is grounded in reality. Not unless the qualifier of money is thrown in.

Finding the money to run a campaign for election is arguably the biggest challenge a prospective candidate faces when he or she begins to consider running for anything. From dog-catcher to sheriff or mayor, to governor or congressperson, and, most notably, for President of the United States itself. The amount of money that you need to fork out for a presidential run staggers the mind. You’re talking hundreds of millions of dollars. If you’re rich, really rich, you can put in, as down payment, some of your own money, just as Ross Perot did when he made his bid in the 1992 run and now, in the current contest, Donald Trump. But when it comes to going all the way, no individual has the stomach required to unload up to the billion dollars of their own coin that, it seems, is necessary to make a successful bid. The wise man or woman, therefore, is best advised to get the money from the people who they purport to want to represent. Frying them in their own fat, so to speak. But who fries whom in whose fat is an open question, though. What with all those political action committees and big-business interests clamouring to maintain their hold on the levers of government.

But this piece is not about the money. It is more about the ambition and how some candidates in the presidential run allow it to trump (pun deliberate) everything. Those who manage to successfully find their way through electoral primaries do so primarily by the weight of their ambition, which generally leads them to do or say things that the ordinary person would be ashamed of. The example of this tendency in this election cycle is Donald Trump, whose campaign is so terrifying that it reminds one of the moves that Hitler employed in 1930’s Germany to gain power. Remember how that ended. Trump’s declarations on various topics including immigrants, Muslims, women, the disabled, international trade and security agreements can be directly superimposed on what the German dictator said before and after he came to power. Pretty scary.

I know it is Halloween, but the season is meant only for terrorizing little children and, maybe, give them a little treat afterwards to calm their nerves. But what Trump has been saying is giving us adults, nightmares. The package he offers would only create dissension between peoples of different races, religions and genders. That’s the good bit. If and when he wins. The really appalling underbelly though, is what will happen should he not win. As of the closing stages of the third Presidential candidates’ debate, Mr Trump refused to clarify whether he would accept a result that gave the presidency to Hillary Clinton. His followers are talking about deploying torches and pitchforks in the event, but when it gets down to the wire, the arsenal at their disposal is a much more lethal one than those low-tech implements of revolution.

I don’t’ know about you, but me, living along the northern border of a nascent banana republic gives me the heebie-jeebies.

Tell Fren Tru