My Point of View by Jennifer Vogt-Erickson

The Republican race is as intriguing to me as the Democratic race, but this time in a twisted car wreck sense. Who is going to emerge from it first?

From my perspective, there are only two moderate Republican candidates. One of them is seeking the Democratic nomination, and one of them is a bully whose self-aggrandizing statements are so frequent and predictable they could be described as a tic. I would name him, but he has already received a king’s fortune in free air time compared to other candidates due to his gift for theater and penchant for ugly bluster.

I’m hoping this candidate doesn’t prevail in Minnesota as he has in several other states. A Star Tribune poll in late January showed Marco Rubio in the lead. While you can accurately assume I’m not a Rubio fan, I breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe Minnesotans learned a thing or two from our last bombastic, self-promoting governor who brought the gaudy spectacle of a WWE ring to the office. I choke to say it, but Jesse Ventura has some class compared to the self-obsessed, entitled real estate heir in the GOP presidential race.

This tycoon tacitly condones rudeness toward or even violence against people who criticize him, including the press. Among his supporters, he has torn down civility, respect for laws that protect anybody but themselves, and esteem for a third of the Bill of Rights.

Why are people attracted to a snide, campy man who makes vague and ultimately meaningless promises? Who retweets a Benito Mussolini quote without realizing the source or the historical irony? Who makes $5 million from a bogus university bearing his name? Who publicly mocks a reporter’s disability? Who appears incapable of even minimal self-reflection?

The candidate’s political ideology is hard to pin down, and he could have run as a Democrat or an Independent, but he chose the GOP. That should speak volumes, many more volumes than this man has ever read, not counting his own self-referential books. With him at the center, the GOP debates have devolved into petty, name-calling debacles while the Democratic debates are serious policy forums.

So why has he had such an easy time turning the GOP into a circus instead of being rightfully shunned by voters?

In the GOP, the message has become more important than the truth. This has been its operating principle since Ronald Reagan played the role of an affable president to perfection, hitting his marks and saying his lines but having little clue or curiosity about what was happening behind the scenes. This canonized GOP legend was a lovable empty shirt who had to be closely minded.

And that was just the start.

“Blessed are the rich, for they are the job creators” became the party gospel, even though evidence doesn’t support the GOP claim that tax breaks at the top help the middle class. The opposite is true — when the tax burden on the top brackets fell substantially, inequality rose and the middle class hollowed. This reality, however, has not yet impinged upon GOP doctrine.

“Get government off our backs, for it is a drag on our economy.” I still don’t understand why anybody but a libertarian billionaire buys this, but it’s part of the GOP creed. Many of us like to believe that we’re independent agents, but government (good or bad) is absolutely central to our lives. Effective government is a safety net for those who are down on their luck, a protection and a boon for people in the middle, and an essential element of a stable, healthy business climate.

For decades, media personalities like Rush Limbaugh and an entire TV network, FOX News, have beamed the GOP message into homes across the country. The message has been smooth and uninterrupted from anchor to talk show host and back.

But here’s the danger of demoting truth to favor a preferred, packaged message: An opportunist with household name recognition can take over that wavelength with their own appealing message. After GOP-friendly media outlets conditioned people to ignore facts, the party is struggling to regain the upper hand from this entertaining huckster who gets a kick out of insulting people.

I don’t know what to say about this man’s supporters other than that they probably aren’t true believers in GOP dogma, and they’re hurting. They’ve chosen to follow his lead in kicking around easy targets (like Muslims, Mexicans and media) instead of doing the hard work of clawing back control of government from the big money oligarchs funding campaigns.

This is the real central struggle of our time, and we won’t win it if we’re diverted by circus. We also need the guardrails of truth and civility in order to “make America great again.”

Note: Caucuses tonight! The Freeborn County DFL is caucusing at the Eagles Club in downtown Albert Lea, from 6 to 8 p.m. Republicans are caucusing at Southwest Middle School.

 

Jennifer Vogt-Erickson is a member of the Freeborn County DFL Party.