Some of our most-used new bash words are “arrogance” and “ignorance” — although probably they won’t replace “racist” and the other words which surround Donald J. Trump’s ascendance.
Most certain of his righteousness is Nobel economist Paul Krugman who writes columns for The New York Times. In On Invincible Ignorance, (March 22 2016) he coined yet another word: “Trumpocalypse.”.
Sure of the wisdom of his chosen party, which is actually mine although I am an independent thinker and voter, Krugman ends his piece:
Appalled Republicans may rail against Donald Trump’s arrogant ignorance. But how different, really, are the party’s mainstream leaders? Their blinkered view of the world has the veneer of respectability, may go along with an appearance of thoughtfulness, but in reality it’s just as impervious to evidence — maybe even more so, because it has the power of groupthink behind it.
This is why you shouldn’t grieve over Marco Rubio’s epic political failure. Had Mr. Rubio succeeded, he would simply have encouraged his party to believe that all it needs is a cosmetic makeover — a fresher, younger face to sell the same old defunct orthodoxy. Oh, and a last-minute turn to someone like John Kasich would, in its own way, have similar implications.
What we’re getting instead is at least the possibility of a cleansing shock — of a period in the political wilderness that will finally force the Republican establishment to rethink its premises. That’s a good thing — or it would be, if it didn’t also come with the risk of President Trump.
Emphases added. Hardly words of dispassionate neutrality, but at least a tacit admission that a new direction seems favorable for at least one of the two major parties, both of whom have so horribly failed their constituencies, the American citizens, on the patriotic immigration reform issue. Even if it’s not the new direction Krugman ignorantly and arrogantly presumes.
That the behavior of the Democrats and Republicans means fewer jobs and less general comity is never admitted — and in fact is bragged about by both parties.
Economist Krugman might well have harkened back to the axiomatic economic principle of supply and demand — which suggests that the wages of average Americans won’t be improved by Hillary and Bernie’s promise to continue Obama’s alien import policies.
Both parties allowed an unneeded 59 million aliens to settle here since 1965. And now, as the Left and Right are each accusing the other of racism and “arrogance,” Americans look quietly at the horror of what has happened to their country. But as a Democrat, I have to admit that Trump has pointed it out — and as a result his support is broad and deep.
But certainly a revolution is in progress. The true “ignorance” and “arrogance” is to refuse to admit it.
Donald A. Collins, is a freelance writer living in Washington DC and a former long time member of the board of FAIR, the Federation for American Immigration Reform. His views are his own. He is the author ofFrom the Dissident Left: A Collection of Essays 2004-2013
