Cogito Ergo Non Serviam

Republican Hate Fest Foreshadows Ugly Campaign Ahead

George Orwell begins 1984 with preparations for and enactment of the Two Minutes Hate. In 120 seconds, those who lived under IngSoc in Oceania vented their rage and loathing of the traitor Goldstein. Last night in Cleveland, the Republican Party engaged in at least three hours of hate, proving once again that Americans do many of the things the Brits do with greater volume, color and magnitude. This is going to be a decidedly ugly general election.

Sadly, there are very good strategic reasons for the negativity of the convention, campaign and candidates. If the Republicans were to run on facts, they would lose. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is in record high territory. Unemployment is radically down at 4.9% today from 9.5% in June 2009. Since the Democrats took the White House, the economy has produced 14 million jobs or thereabouts. While he has not entirely removed the troops, there are now no American combat troops on patrol and under daily fire in Iraq nor Afghanistan. Iran has given up its nuclear ambitions.

Instead, they are running on fear of the future. When it comes to emotion, facts don't matter. The country isn't the place it was in the 1950s, 60s, 70s, 80s or 90s -- and that is a good thing. However, there are always winners and losers when it comes to change. The GOP has abandoned the sunny optimism of Ronald Reagan (who was a disaster as president, but remains their hero -- facts be damned). His "revolution" proclaimed that "it is morning in America." Today's Republicans say "it is mourning in America."

In today's America, there are solid bases in both parties of about 40-45% each. There is an undecided, unaligned (and usually uninformed) 15% or so that will decide the election. They can either be persuaded to turn out to vote for a candidate, to vote against a candidate or to stay home because it's all so ugly and dirty. The Republicans have given up trying to get people in the undecided camp to vote for Mr. Trump. He is a very polarizing character; either one loves him or hates him. Those who will vote for him are already on board. Instead, they have opted to attack Mrs. Clinton on every score imaginable, and some that are beyond imagining. Dr. Ben Carson actually compared her to Lucifer in his remarks last night.

Mr. Trump cannot unite the party by appealing to the angels of the activists' better natures. He has been too divisive in winning the nomination. What he can do is unite the party against Mrs. Clinton. The constituent parts of old Reagan coalition of imperialists, corporate welfare queens, small government Goldwaterites and social reactionaries have little in common these days. But they all can be convinced to hate Mrs. Clinton.

They have two advantages in their hate-fueled strategy. Mrs. Clinton is a lousy campaigner, and she's been in the public eye for a quarter century. Unlike her husband, she is unable to fake sincerity, unable to lie convincingly, unable to connect at a personal level through the impersonal medium of TV. This lack of political talent combined with a record that stretches from White Water to Benghazi gives the Republicans hope that they can get most of the undecideds to vote against her and a great many others to stay home.

These same weaknesses dictate that she runs a similar campaign. Apart from women of her age and background, she excites no one. Anyone under the age of 60 whom she inspires was probably impressed with his or her high school vice-principle. Fortunately, Mr. Trump is hated on an even bigger scale that she is. His business career is littered with bankruptcies, episodes of short-changing the little guy and frequent incidents of abusing of economic power. "You're fired" is hardly a slogan to endear the sloganeer to the fragile working class.

The Two-Minutes Hate now appears to have no time limit.

© Copyright 2016 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.



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