"Every Nation gets the government it deserves". Written by Joseph de Maistre in 1811, often wrongly attributed to Abraham Lincoln among others. I've used a variant of this expression in discussions on Manx politics, usually "You get the government you deserve". This is sadly particularly true of the Isle of Man, we elect idiots and are surprised when we get stupid results, we elect the incompetent and wonder where the millions of Manx Reserves have gone, essentially we continue to validate the notion that, indeed, Every Nation gets the government it deserves.
Now it would appear America is within spitting distance of that very thing, the government they deserve. The Americans were angry several years ago, which is one of the reasons we saw a Democrat party choosing between Obama and Clinton, and it's also one of the reasons why Obama got the second term. Not the only reason I freely admit, but one of them. The Americans however were not quite angry enough to go the distance, so they elected the usual cronies to the Senate and the House of Representatives. On reflection, this didn't help.
Now we are on the cusp of a major political upheaval, the possibility that someone, without any previous political experience or service, may become the Republican candidate for the President of the United States of America, and could therefore actually become the next President of the United States of America.
Of course there's a danger this could open the floodgates, the Presidency will no longer reside within the political landscape, it will feature in the landscape of anyone who can afford to "give it a go".
Personally the thought of a Trump presidency defeats me, it transcends my theory that "stupid is the new normal", but hey, maybe it'll work! To compensate for just the outright silliness of the concept, tomorrow I am going to put a tenner on Trump for President [odds currently 5-2]. I do this for several reasons, one being I am a terrible gambler, I have bet on three Grand Nationals, two horses didn't make it around the course and one died, people have contemplated funding my gambling just to improve their own odds of winning. So maybe my bet will help in some small way, and a tenner's cheap to prevent a potential disaster. Alternatively if he wins I get enough cash to drink myself into oblivion the next day, a win-win situation.
Either way America may never recover.
