The meteoritic rise of the phenomenon known as Donald Trump gives strong support to my belief that many American voters are angry. In any other election, a candidate who spoke in generalities and refused to provide any real details would face a quick execution at the hand of the voters. Not so in 2016. If anything, it seems the more outrageous Trump performs, the stronger becomes his support. Republican voters are fed up and appear determined to elect a Washington “outsider.”
On the Democratic side of the equation, the opposite appears to hold true – being a Washington “insider” appears to be the key to success. While Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have tried (without success) to portray themselves as outsiders, to do so is somewhat hilarious, as both have been in public offices for a very, very long time. For Democratic voters, there is apparently no problem with electing a well-seasoned politician, Washington based or otherwise.
The source of the Republican anger likely is due, in some part, to the fact that they have faced a Democrat in the White House for the last eight years. Such a situation is likely to make most Republicans feel left out of the political process, but I sense the anger goes far deeper than simple White House envy. Republicans appear equally angry about illegal immigration (or sometimes, even legal immigration), budget deficits, perceived impotence in the face of ISIS and world-wide terrorism, poor health care, poor educational resources, the “theory” of global warming (or at least, the perceived inability of the American government to do anything about this issue), to name just a few of the contentious issues.
In the upcoming general election, Republican supporters will vote for the Republican candidate, Democratic supporters will vote for the Democratic candidate, and the independent voters in the middle will decide the election. Whether or not these independent voters are more or less angry remains to be seen, but their general view of the American situation will likely determine the winner in November.
While I have been somewhat surprised by the Republican anger in the USA, I have been stunned by the anger of Canadian voters, both provincially and federally. I have never experienced any other period in my life when the anger against existing governments in Canada has been so profound, so universal, and so vicious.
What’s even more amazing is the fact that we have completed recent elections in both Alberta, and in Canada. Under normal conditions, the anger with a newly elected government takes a long time to build up. Most new governments have a “honeymoon” period, courtesy of our local and national media, and real anger with the newly elected government takes at least a few years to percolate. While the media has certainly been very generous with how they have treated both our new provincial and federal governments, the anger of the people has exploded without the media’s assistance. In fact, I sense a huge level of anger directed towards the media as well, a sense that they are “just as much to blame” as our two levels of government. With the next election (be it provincial or federal) still roughly four years away, the next forty-eight months will likely be very difficult.
An old Chinese saying comes to mind: “May you live in interesting times.” Appears that we will.
Brian McLeod is a long time resident of St. Albert.
