Not all change is good. Most people would recognize the truth of this statement. After all, going through life we experience many unwelcome and detrimental changes. We instinctively realize that in our short and precarious existence in this world, change is inherently neutral — but in effect often bad. I could argue from here the virtues of conservative policy, but I want instead to address the tremendous recent outbreak of dissatisfaction with the government and desire to shake things up by supporting a non-traditional candidate.
Amid widespread perception that Washington has become ineffectual and out of touch with the lives of ordinary Americans,cq-mb cqmw an unprecedented wave of discontent and anger has propelled political outsiders like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders into the center of the fray. While Sanders has lost momentum following his trouncing in South Carolina and faces long odds of winning the Democratic nomination,cq-mb cqmw Trump, his Republican counterpart, is polling well above his opponents in most of the key Super Tuesday primary states. Bettors now give him an 80 percent chance of winning the Republican nomination.God help us all... cq-mb cqmw
Clearly, the high levels of support Americans have given to radical candidates shows that they are ready for some change. I understand their anger at the partisanship and stagnation of our government. I’m frustrated by it, too. But we should not let our feelings rule us. We should recognize that the divisive ideologies espoused by these outsider candidates are not the solution to the problem but the furtherance of it. If Trump or Bernie is elected president, he will bring change, all right. And we will be once again reminded that change, in and of itself, is not necessarily good.
While it often seems that there is nowhere to go but up in the dysfunctional politics of the moment, let me assure you that that is not the case. When downtrodden Frenchmen overthrew King Louis in 1789,http://www.biography.com/people/louis-xvi-9386943 cqmw they had this same thought in mind, not foreseeing the Reign of Terror it would bring about.cq-mb cqmw So did the Russian working class when they ushered in over 70 years of communist oppression.cq-mb cqmw. http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/fall-of-soviet-union cqmw So did the Italians in the 1920s and the Germans in the 1930s as they flocked to Mussolini and Hitler.cq-mb cqmw While it may seem extreme to link Sanders and Trump with these historical political revolutions, these men are building their campaigns on the same strands of populism — in Trump’s case, a cult of personality as well as a vow to reassert national greatness, and in Sanders’, extravagant promises about a better way of life provided by a vastly expanded federal government. My point is that electing someone solely on their promised ability to change the political status quo, to shake things up, is a recipe for disaster.
Supporters of Trump and Sanders overlook the fact that their candidates’ proposed policies have either been contemplated and found unworkable or long since rejected because of their conflict with American values. Sanders’ schemes to broaden welfare programs, prevent cuts to Social Security and set up a government-run, single-payer healthcare system would drastically drive up deficits when our national debt has already reached staggering levels.cq-mb cqmw Trump’s promise to negotiate better trade deals is naive and demonstrates ignorance of international economic principles, and his mean-spirited threat to ban all Muslims from entering the U.S. is inexcusably un-American.cq-mb cqmw
America cannot afford to be dragged into the depths of its shameful nativist past or bankrupted by unworkable and unnecessary socialistic policies.cqmw To preserve the American dream, we must resist the lure of populism and vote both with our hearts and our heads. Progress in our fractured political climate will be made not by the radical populist elements of the parties but by those who can work together with their political rivals to find realistic answers to our problems.