The way I see it, we have two totally broken political parties in this country. The Republican mess is the result of a battle between the old guard, main-streamers like Bush and Romney, and the purist ultra-conservative, make no compromises on anything, right wingers epitomized by Ted Cruz. The inability of these groups to work through their differences has allowed an unprincipled interloper like Trump to bull his way into making a grab for the party's nomination. Trump doesn't really have any allegiance to any of the core values of either wing of the party, but he's managed to play the factions against each other with a lot of old-fashioned snake oil salesmanship and bluster to convince enough dissatisfied right-wing voters that he'll break through the gridlock and lead them back to a 1960's vision of American "greatness". He wouldn't have been able to get any traction early on in the race if there hadn't been 16 other candidates splitting the vote. He's a morally bankrupt lout who has no chance at getting elected.
The Democrats have their own internal mess that they're not dealing with in any effective way. The party that once had a high-minded vision expressed by JFK of "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" has completely turned that on its head. Now it's a dozen different factions all demanding that the country do for them in spades. Bernie has managed to capture the attention of the young voters because at least he has a vision for a new direction for the country. That socialist vision will never translate into enough votes to get him the nomination, but it's been fun watching him in this election. Hillary is as main-stream as they come in the Democratic organization. She's willing to espouse any and all of the calls to action that the factions within the party demand. She has no real commitment to any of them, as the video clips of her wandering heart-felt opinions demonstrate. She has no vision for a better America, she'll just say whatever the masses want to hear in order to get herself elected. Democratic voters seem willing to overlook her massive ethical shortcomings simply because she checks off all of the right boxes on their issues list.
I have no idea what the future holds. Maybe this crappy political season of dreadful candidates is necessary in order to cause some introspection within the parties. Maybe a new generation of leaders will arise to get this country headed towards a better future. Or maybe we've just reached the tipping point where there are too many diverse interests all shouting their demands. Maybe this mess is the new normal. Geez, I hope not.
