TWO SIDES: ONE GOAL

Every election year we claim that the current one is the most important election of our lifetime; said assertion is partly true and partly false; the truth is that coming to the end of a historic cycle each decision tends to carry more weight than any in other previous occasions. 

The last two elections (2008 and 2012) were a clash of two different visions for America and the most liberal won twice. As absurd as it may seem, this time around we are not witnessing the stark contrast of two visions, but the uprise of the base to the detriment of the bureaucracy in both major parties. The establishment, in both sides of the aisle, was too comfortable calling the shots while the rank and file followed blindly the instructions stemming from the wise men; but with the advent of the Internet the normal folks inevitably manage get some information, no matter how biased and mutilated; and all of a sudden the sheep refuse to follow the Shepard to the slaughter house; some people turn their eyes away from the preset target and start wandering through a myriad of different options they had never noticed before. 

On the other hand, the abysmal gap between the two main parties and the rest of the political organizations makes it impossible for anyone with an independent platform to seriously run for the presidency or any other significant political position for that matter, and here we have to two lethal ingredients that have led us to the present quagmire; a deeper, almost inevitable fracture between the base and the leadership and the arrival of extremists who would have never been part of the traditional parties just a few years ago. Donald Trump is not a Republican the same way that Bernie Sanders isn't a Democrat; they simply climbed to the only available stages. The democratic machinery albeit clumsily and with a heavy dose of dirty politics, was able to get rid of the unwelcome newcomer whose only role was that of  keeping appearances and had gone as far as jeopardizing Hillary's coronation. The republican chieftains did not have such good luck and the mother of all nightmares engulfed their party with an unprecedented outcome: Donald J Trump won the nomination and could well be the 45th president of the United States. Hell broke loose and the RNC seems as chaotic as a brothel during a power outage.

In my judgement the haves did turned the screws too hard on the have nots and we all feel betrayed; thus, depending on how we see the world we either believe the solution is in an omnipresent government that provides for all, or in a thriving private sector that generates jobs at last and rids us of this fake recovery we've been in for far too long. No happy mediums are conceived. The left wants opportunities created by the bureaucracy while the right wants a feeble government that gets the hell out of the way and let's us work in peace. 

The GOP is no doubt going through a structural crisis in which the scaffolding threatens to tumble down unison. For the first time in recent history the base seems to have made its choice regardless of and despite the allegedly better judgement of their bosses and the schism is all too evident. Needless to say our political dynamics allows descent and voters opting out of the box, but perception is everything and when a sizable portion of the "vanguard" breaks away from the decision of the majority "Houston, we have a problem". Next November 8 we will elect a new Commander in Chief; it still seems too close to call, but regardless of the outcome of the election both parties need an urgent transfusion of new and healthier blood. For now both sides are holding fast to the old pattern, but unbeknownst to them a new era has come; their goal isn't the good of the country or the wellbeing of their fellow Americans, but the perpetuation of the old elitist ways of making decisions around the large oak desk while sipping single malt and smoking Cuban cigars. It's time for we the people to seize the helm from their arthitic hands and steer clear of the current dangerously drifting course.