Meet the New Anarchists: Us!

Don’t you just hate it when the falcon can’t hear the falconer?

So Trump signs the RNC pledge not to run as a spoiler. You would think today’s headline would be “Trump pledges not to facilitate a Hillary win.” Instead we get “Trump stumbles on foreign affairs.”

Clearly the GOPe and MSM don’t get it yet: America doesn’t want another politician studied in the memes the media finds indicative of leadership qualities – such as a sharp creased trouser leg.

The enduring popularity of The Donald continues to hijack media types like Peggy Noonan. In last week’s column, “America Is So In Play,”  she displayed yet another in her long line of Pauline Kael moments when she was stunned, stunned I tell you, to discover that the natives are restless. Poor old Peggy, we can always rely on her to jump aboard after the train has left the station:

“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'.”

Whereby she “discovers” three reasons for The Donald’s popularity:

One is the deepening estrangement between the elites and the non-elites in America. This is the area in which Trumpism flourishes.

Second, Mr. Trump’s support is not limited to Republicans, not by any means.

Third, the traditional mediating or guiding institutions within the Republican universe—its establishment, respected voices in conservative media, sober-minded state party officials—have little to no impact on Mr. Trump’s rise.

And then, when she runs out for a bit of foie gras and chevre, she is again mugged by her “friend” Cesar who “works the deli counter at her neighborhood grocery store.” Cesar confirms the riff:

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…When you come to this country, you pledge loyalty to the country that opened the doors to help you.”

Yikes, not all immigrants hate The Donald’s guts!? Where did that come from?  Unless you’re a member of the elites you’d likely conclude it came from the immigrants who came here to pursue the old fashioned American Dream, not to “level the playing field” of life.

Turns out those immigrants, just like other members of the non-elite class, the people they really hate are the elites: political elites, media elites, business elites and all the other special interest elites who consider themselves our betters (I’m talking to you, Peggy). Wowzer! Talk about being mugged by the truth.

On the subject of elites, I spoke to Scott Miller, co-founder of the Sawyer Miller political-consulting firm…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.”

As I mentioned before Peggy is never one to fail jumping aboard just as the train is leaving the platform.  She wraps it with this pithy thought:

I end with this. An odd thing, in my observation, is that deep down the elite themselves also think the game is rigged. They don’t disagree, and they don’t like what they see—corruption, shallowness and selfishness in the systems all around them. Their odd anguish is that they have no faith the American people can—or will—do anything to turn it around. They see the American voter as distracted, poorly educated, subject to emotional and personality-driven political adventures.[ed.How else do you explain Obama’s two terms?]

Both sides, the elites and the non-elites, sense that things are stuck.

The people hate the elites, which is not new, and very American. The elites have no faith in the people, which, actually, is new. Everything is stasis. Then Donald Trump comes, like a rock thrown through a showroom window, and the molecules start to move.

What more can I say, other than “thank you, Peggy, for providing yet another opportunity to quote from Yeat’s The Second Coming”:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre  

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere  

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst  

Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;

Surely the Second Coming is at hand.

And speaking of anarchy, the Instapundit suggests you re-read this article from 2010: The Coming Middle Class Anarchy.

“What’s really important is that law-abiding middle-class citizens are deciding that playing by the rules is nothing but a sucker’s game. . . . When the backbone of a country starts thinking that laws and rules are not worth following, it’s just a hop, skip and a jump to anarchy. TV has given us the illusion that anarchy is people rioting in the streets, smashing car windows and looting every store in sight. But there’s also the polite, quiet, far deadlier anarchy of the core citizenry — the upright citizenry — throwing in the towel and deciding it’s just not worth it anymore.”

Anarchists: doing it our way, finally.

Happy labor day weekend infidels! Slouch on.

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Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network