Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Trump’s Appeal

With 16 reasonably qualified candidates vying for the Republican nomination, why is Donald Trump leading in the polls? What is his appeal? What’s going on here?

I think that the American public is absolutely positively fed up with the politicians in Washington. They have accomplished very little and are more interested in partisan politics than conducting the people’s business. The political system is broken and needs to be fixed. Trump, with all his rhetoric and bluster, claims he’s going to fix the mess. Will he?

Some of what he’s been saying resonates with people. However, demagogues like Trump can be dangerous. Germany was in bad shape in the 1920s and early 1930s. There was hyperinflation and all kinds of other problems. The Nazi party promised better times ahead if they were elected. In desperation, the electorate gave the Nazi party enough seats in Parliament so that Hitler was made Chancellor.

We all know what happened, and I don’t think anything like that would happen here – but you never know! We don’t want to elect someone who’s all bluster and no action. On the other hand, we don’t want the same old, tired, and ineffective politicians. Something has to be done to fix our political system, but I don’t think Trump is the answer. So what is the answer?

I think the answer is, throw the bums out! Why reward is ineffective politicians with two or six more years in power? It’s like rewarding bad behavior with a child. If we turn over Congress enough times hopefully they’ll get the message. We are critical time in our history, with multiple threats from within and without. We need strong leadership bipartisan cooperation, or we might end up going the way of the Roman Empire. The barbarians are the door!

Donald Trump will end up being a sideshow in this election and will eventually fade away. As it gets closer to the primaries and eventually the election in next November, people will get serious about whom they vote for. I pray we get true leadership, both with the new president and a mostly new Congress.

I also suggest that we all pray for our country, especially its leaders at all levels of government. Prayer is especially important as we drift away from our Judeo Christian tradition and our culture becomes more and more trashy.

God bless America!