I am sure that it is well known at this point that Michelle Bachmann is the hands down winner of the Iowa straw poll, often considered to be one of the first and more significant early polling options. This wasn't entirely unexpected, but she was rather closely followed by Ron Paul of all the candidates in this Republican clown circus.
Don't get me wrong, I actually respect Ron Paul in some ways in the same way I can appreciate someone like Chris Christie and Ross Perot. They have their political leanings that are rather far removed from my own, but they are not party mouthpieces. In an era when elections have become increasingly about patting your fellow party member on his back in the wake of corruption while spewing distortions of the opposite parties, the fact that Paul speaks his mind is a positive asset. At the very least he brings some much needed debate when he avoids his rambles.
Of course, the fact that he and Bachmann are moving toward being the mainstream candidates is proof that it is the fringes of a party that vote in the primaries rather than anybody who is sensible. The 'crazies' as Chris Christie might call them.
In a general election, these are two of the least electable candidates out of a wide array of candidates that lean so far right that Ronald Reagan is starting to look closer to Dennis Kusinich than the good old conservative hero. If this is the kind of people who determine the
Ron Paul is the type of Libertarian that would love to see government effectively done away with on the ideal that business could regulate itself. To him, any government interaction in the market place is an anathema that amounts to thievery. He's put his money where his mouth is in several situations including his rejection of the congressional pension plan he would be entitled to. This gives him some degree of appeal amongst his core followers who see his examples as proof of integrity. Even many of those who would like to see a decrease in government spending often realize that there are some realms that are best not left entirely to the whims of the free market and that government involvement in areas such as education, infrastructure and safety are for the most part a benefit to our nation. A good number of people would worry about huge cuts to programs that they see as essential to their daily lives and an assault on their way of life.To the middle American going to vote in the main election, Ron Paul takes his crusade against taxation and government to such an extreme that they will reject him.
Rational egoism works in peculiar ways that extends far beyond economics. Just don't tell the libertarians that.
And then there's the winner, Michelle Bachmann. I was willing to defend her against the Newsweek picture if only because it made her someone more relatable and drew attention away from her overall bad understanding of the economy and of her own platform. It's one thing to argue for the founding fathers' original intent in your campaign, but she has demonstrated to have a less than complete understanding of their actual positions given her strange inclusion of John Quincy Adams in the founding fathers (he was still a bay during the revolution) as well as her statement that they had fought to end slavery (which was certainly an issue of contention, particularly with Pennsylvania Quakers and slave owners in Virginia on south) show that she's not only uncertain of her own platform, but also of basic American history. Somehow this woman earned a law degree.
Equal parts Christian fundamentalist and quasi-libertarian Tea Party member, she never speaks in specifics of her policy but instead spews talking points that take an incredibly simplistic view of issues that cannot be adequately argued in a 5 second sound bite, or even a couple thousand word article. We've yet to really see her (or much of anyone besides Romney and Paul in previous elections) debate at the national level as the few meetings thus far have been substance free for the reality television audience.
Outside of the far reaches of the Republican Party, she is seen as incompetent in many of the same areas most people consider Sarah Palin unfit. Her extreme views, including a comment in which unemployment would virtually disappear if the minimum wage was eliminated (so we can compete with India), are off-putting to those who have already seen their wages shrink year after year to energy and health care cost increases. When she speaks of cutting taxes and eliminating entitlement programs, she evades the ways in which she or her direct family has benefited from a number of subsidies. We have yet to see a comprehensive plan for how she will reduce the budget without increasing taxes against the recommendation of most economists. Such simplicity is dangerous when put in action and her election more than most would put this country in a dire situation as her ideology would take center stage over any pragmatic need to actually negotiate. I heard that once upon a time democracy used this as a means to get things done and keep it all civil in spite of the differences.
I'm not saying the Democrats are any better in terms of getting the more reasonable individuals to come out in the primaries, but as this election cycle has an incumbent in the presidency there isn't a similar phenomenon to compare. That said, it is alarming that we are seeing the leaders of the party chosen from the fringe elements by the furthest reaches as will not produce the best candidates. Charisma and idealistic talking points are governing our election more than ever fueled by corporate money. Decisions are not being made by the average American and the selections in the past several elections have not really been in the best interests of the nation.
The Republican Party nomination may very well be determined by nutcases and I am sincerely hoping that the spectacle amounts to little more than a car crash that is gawked at for a moment before being forgotten with the next commercial break on the radio.
If not we may see a permanent shift in politics to the right and we can welcome the 1890s all over again.
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