Peggy Noonan at the Wall Street Journal has written possibly the most important op-ed of the election season. It's a must-read. America is So in Play. I read it last night and proceeded to dream about it (literally). America is fed up and Trump is saying the things no one was willing to say.
The passage I found most fascinating is posted below. All these years, I thought I was somewhat unique, bringing my GKC "Hudge and Gudge" loathing and combining it with von Misesian libertarianism to produce another Catholic crank voice. It turns out I'm not different and, in fact, am probably mainstream.
On the subject of elites, I spoke to Scott Miller, co-founder of the Sawyer Miller political-consulting firm, who is now a corporate consultant. He worked on the Ross Perot campaign in 1992 and knows something about outside challenges. He views the key political fact of our time as this: “Over 80% of the American people, across the board, believe an elite group of political incumbents, plus big business, big media, big banks, big unions and big special interests–the whole Washington political class–have rigged the system for the wealthy and connected.” It is “a remarkable moment,” he said. More than half of the American people believe “something has changed, our democracy is not like it used to be, people feel they no longer have a voice.”
Mr. Miller added: “People who work for a living are thinking this thing is broken, and that economic inequality is the result of the elite rigging the system for themselves. We're seeing something big.”
A further twist I'd add to Noonan's analysis: The RNC and DNC are both corrupt, slaves to the big interests. But whereas the DNC has its act together (they've apparently already decided Hillary will win), the RNC is in disarray. That's a good thing because it has given us a stampede primary season where real debate can occur and a candidate can emerge to give voice to the frustration the bulk of middle class America has been feeling for many, many years.
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(Note: I ran into something new this morning: If you click on that WSJ link above, it'll say you need a subscription to read it, but if you go to Drudge and click on it, you don't. As of this posting, the link can be found in Drudge's middle column, third from the top. But in case you don't want to go through that trouble, I've pasted another interesting passage below.)
Something is going on, some tectonic plates are moving in interesting ways. My friend Cesar works the deli counter at my neighborhood grocery store. He is Dominican, an immigrant, early 50s, and listens most mornings to a local Hispanic radio station, La Mega, on 97.9 FM. Their morning show is the popular “El Vacilón de la Mañana,” and after the first GOP debate, Cesar told me, they opened the lines to call-ins, asking listeners (mostly Puerto Rican, Dominican, Mexican) for their impressions. More than half called in to say they were for Mr. Trump. Their praise, Cesar told me a few weeks ago, dumbfounded the hosts. I later spoke to one of them, who identified himself as D.J. New Era. He backed Cesar's story. “We were very surprised,” at the Trump support, he said. Why? “It's a Latin-based market!”
“He's the man,” Cesar said of Mr. Trump. This week I went by and Cesar told me that after Mr. Trump threw Univision's well-known anchor and immigration activist, Jorge Ramos, out of an Iowa news conference on Tuesday evening, the “El Vacilón” hosts again threw open the phone lines the following morning and were again surprised that the majority of callers backed not Mr. Ramos but Mr. Trump. Cesar, who I should probably note sees me, I sense, as a very nice establishment person who needs to get with the new reality, was delighted.
I said: Cesar, you're supposed to be offended by Trump, he said Mexico is sending over criminals, he has been unfriendly, you're an immigrant. Cesar shook his head: No, you have it wrong. Immigrants, he said, don't like illegal immigration, and they're with Mr. Trump on anchor babies. “They are coming in from other countries to give birth to take advantage of the system. We are saying that! When you come to this country, you pledge loyalty to the country that opened the doors to help you.”
