The Election Cults

The feardoms that are US presidential politics are upon us again.  It's a time when I stop following a lot of my Facebook friends because their posts are often embarrassingly uninformed and fearful.  I follow one Trumpeteer and one Berning Man just to remind me what it's like out there, but mostly I try to ignore as much hyperbole as possible.

I have been reminded once again of the depths of the fear that can be used to control us by watching what may be one of my favourite seasons of American Horror Story, Cult.  (My other favourite is Roanoke .)  I find it particularly intriguing that I am getting around to it as the nation descends into impeachment frenzy and anti-frenzy.  I confess that although it seems that Mr. Trump certainly did at least try to abuse the power of the office in Ukraine,  and attempted to violate the Constitution, Mr. Biden did as well.  There's no surprise there.  Almost none of the recent presidential candidates seem to consider the Constitution as more than a hindrance to their desire for imperial power.

Actually, the far more worrying aspect of the Trump presidency to me has been his nationalism, which like most of his 'policies' has been very poorly thought out.  He has done great damage to American companies who would benefit from the growing Chinese market.  Is China a less-than-perfect society?  Of course.  But it has been the inroads of international market capitalism which have made the most improvements in the conditions of the Chinese people.  Nixon may have been a crook, but he was at least a smart crook. So, while Trump tries to get the United States to build a wall, China is building Belts and Roads.

So, I want to make a full disclosure of what I would want in a candidate, and who is the constituency that I think is most important for US policy. 

I don't give diddly squat about national health care.  The United States are not very united, and with the great disparity in thought and feelings in the country, that seems just another great divider, and one which  would only add to the economic fragility of a country that doesn't even have the leadership to make a budget.  You like the health care of Sweden?  Fine.  But remember that Sweden's population falls between that of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, each of which have the resources for such care.  You worried about immigrants taking American's jobs.  Fine, but remember that the jobs taken by immigrants are almost always those progressives keep trying to legislate out of existence by raising wages, and which are being automated/roboted out of existence by technical progress.  The real crisis in jobs is not who occupies them but that the jobs themselves are changing far more rapidly than we are willing to acknowledge or know how to prepare for.

The person I care most about in the US elections is that scrawny street kid in the photo.  He is the one for whom I want there to be better opportunities, better education, better health care.  And the data, the facts of world history, make it very clear that global trade, multi-national capitalism, free markets, the very things that most of the US presidential candidates make the enemies and rail against, are the forces that really improve the situation for that kid.  And they are the forces that fuel real liberation of women, and of men, too.   I would gladly trade my medicare and border protection for that kid's future.