By Colleen O’Connor
Let’s be blunt. Trump is right. The system is rigged.
It is also unfair and crushing Americans.
However, how to fix it is in grave doubt:
- Can a sometimes billionaire, selfie President, govern?
- Can millionaire football players taking a knee during the national anthem help?
- Can Twitter lead with feuding insults?
- Can politicians who serve up tired old platitudes do the heavy lifting?
- Or how about the media (not all evil) who chase “chickbait” to satisfy the unsavory appetites of their on- and off-line audiences to improve the corporate bottom line?
To be even more candid. Both parties and the press have failed us for years. And they still are.
The Republican tax “reform” bill remains a giveaway to corporations and megadonors.
The Democrats’ Obamacare remains a giveaway to big pharma and big health care.
Small wonder the country is raging with the cries of “unfair.”
But whom should govern?
The coming Alabama election may settle the issue. Should the alleged “child molester” Roy Moore win, the advantage goes to Trump.
Should he lose, advantage Democrats.
That is why three things matter most.
Number 1 — Turnout
That is always the case and tight poll numbers make this, as always, the paramount issue. Thus, the news that African Americans have little interest in this election is striking. “You don’t vote. You don’t count” has long been the mantra of Civil Rights in the south.
The “born again” evangelical Christians will show up—en mass—if the actions of Moore’ past sexual behavior are so common, in Alabama, that they constitute a non-issue.
If so, advantage Republicans.
Number 2 — Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell and the Clintons are aligned against Moore
If elected, Roy Moore is sure to recast the GOP as the “Grand Old Pedophile” party. To avoid this will require McConnell to unseat a Senator elected by “the people.” This is a thankless task.
Add Trump strategist Steve Bannon’s hatred of McConnell, and payback is guaranteed. Already the Republican National Committee has cut off funding for Moore. McConnell would rather lose the seat.
Hillary and Bill Clinton also have obvious reasons to despise the Trump-supported Moore. A defeat for the “always winning” President would be a serious blow.
Between them, the Clintons and McConnell should have enough Machiavellian talents to defeat Moore.
Thus, advantage Democrats.
Number 3 — Late breaking news
Count on repeated reports of sexual misbehavior among prominent figures—both Democrat and Republican. Probably one a day or every other day. The most salacious will come just days before the polls open, so that the accused has little or no time to respond.
The ugliest charges against any candidate are almost always leveled at the last minute.
These distasteful political weapons are as old as the Republic. President Johnson used the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover’s “dossiers” on members of Congress whenever he needed a vote. He never said too much. Just invited the member to the Oval Office, had the “file” with compromising info or photos on his desk, and then asked politely if he misunderstood how the Senator planned to vote. Guess the outcome for one of the greatest legislative tacticians since Henry Clay.
Hoover and others before him (including the IRS) have often served as weapons. So have many of the government regulatory agencies.
Trump has just made it all more transparent!
Thus, we must all—regardless of political persuasion—pray for one of these men to “win bigly.”
Or not.
As Shakespeare understood:
“Man…dressed in a little brief
authority…most ignorant of what he’s most
assured…plays such fantastic tricks…
as make the angels weep.”
A nasty and close election, in Alabama, would only replay the nightmare of ” hanging chad,” cries of “rigged ballot boxes,” suppressed voting and “fake” results.
And further endanger our fragile democracy.
Then, not just the angels will weep. We all will.
Colleen O’Connor is a native San Diegan and a retired college professor.
