I Was Wrong or Mykel's Election Postmortem

Postmortem (Second Version)

November 9, 2016

by Mykel Board

No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people. H. L. Mencken (disputed)

I was wrong. I predicted a Clinton landslide. I expected the American people... influenced by the press (57 of the top 100 newspapers supported Clinton, 48 gave no endorsement, 2 endorsed Trump)... scared by horror stories of a maniac at the atomic button... extermination of Mexicans... a gun in the hand of ever wacko... I expected them to run to the polls like scared rabbits, scratching out ballots for Clinton faster than you could say Michael Moore. I expected a planned election... engineered by that least democratic of political parties: The Democrats. (Leaked emails proved that the party leadership steered the party toward Clinton-- away from Sanders-- from the early primaries. The primaries themselves, were fixed by unelected superdelegates.) I even offered odds. Three to one on the election Ten to one on NY State. Lucky for me, no one took me up on it.

Now that the election is over, the scapegoat charges have already started flying. Third Party Candidates, The Electoral College, Trump Rigging... Democrats are looking everywhere... except in the mirror.

Here are some other interesting results from the election. From Yahoo:Voters in California, Massachusetts, and Nevada opted to fully legalize marijuana for recreational purposes. They join Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, Washington state, and the District of Columbia in legalizing pot.

Voters in Arkansas, Florida, and North Dakota also opted to legalize medical marijuana. And voters in Montana voted to ease their state’s rules on medical marijuana. No state voted against allowing pot for medicinal purposes.

Arizona, Colorado, Maine, and Washington state all considered raising their minimum wages to $12 an hour. And the proposal won in all four of these states.

At the same time, South Dakota voters overwhelmingly rejected a measure that would have reduced the minimum wage for those under the age of 18.

Candidates for prosecutor who campaigned on prison reform won in several states, from Florida to Texas. And a Democratic challenger defeated Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who billed himself as “America’s toughest sheriff” and got into trouble repeatedly for racial profiling. 
 
Meanwhile, initiatives to reduce prison sentences passed in California and Oklahoma. And New Mexico passed a constitutional amendment that dictates no one should be jailed because they can’t afford bail — a major reform to make sure people aren’t locked in jail just because they’re poor.

What happened? Weren't we beaten into believing Clinton was the progressive candidate and Trump was a fascist?

Here's how I see it:

I'm not sad Trump won. I didn't support him, but I'm glad for the first time since 1981, there won't be a Clinton or Bush among the top three positions in The U.S. (or running for one of them). More than that, about 50% HALF the eligible voters didn't vote. They were so disgusted by BOTH candidates that they felt there was just nothing to vote for. For one reason or another, Trump (sort of) inspired his followers. What kind of inspiration can come from a Clinton whose only talking point is: I Am Not Trump? I understand and sympathize with the non-voters.
 
If you remember, early polls said that Bernie Sanders would have beaten Trump. People wanted A CHANGE! Another Clinton is not a change. Minimum wage, marijuana, prison reform... these are changes. That's why the issues won and Clinton did not.

Like the Brexit folks, tired of their lives being controlled by the gnomes of Brussels, the Trump folks weren't keen on the expansion of corporatism begun by (the other) Clinton and carried forward by GW Bush and Obama. The TPP is DEAD! Proposed by Obama, called the gold standard of treaties by (the current) Clinton, supported by most Republicans in Congress, this treaty would have given away the US government's right to pollution controls, minimum wages, occupational safety and more, if it interfered with international business. Pressured by Sanders, Clinton agreed to “oppose” the treaty, but would have “changed her mind” within her first 3 months in office. Now, the treaty is dead. And an already-passed Clinton NAFTA treaty, is in trouble.

Clinton was the war candidate. The one who wanted to strengthen NATO... easy code for saber rattling. She wanted to increase tensions at the Russian border, setting up the same kinds of weapons John Kennedy almost started WW3 to get rid of. Americans were having none of it. It's nice to have international leaders be friends. You have fewer wars that way,

As long as we see Trump supporters as just redneck anti-immigrant hicks with no validity in their point of view, Trump will continue to win. As long as one party chooses hacks and the other a non-hack... the non-hack will win. I wish the Democrats would learn. I doubt they will. Some idiot will say... see America is right-wing and we have to move to the right to win. That idiot will be wrong.

This is not about right vs left. It's about arrogant keepers of the mainstream vs a shake-up. It's about people who make speeches to farmers and people paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to make speeches to bankers. It's about people buying and people being bought.

If the Democrats were smart, they would nominate someone like Elizabeth Warren next time... or maybe even more of an outsider who we don't know yet. The Democrats are not smart. No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the Democratic party.

Americans? H. L. Mencken... and I... were wrong. They're smarter than we thought.

--Supplemental Column

regular column posted at: mykelsblog.blogspot.com

For a video from the UK that expresses a similar idea see:
https://www.facebook.com/viralthread/videos/598130190359668/