The Keating Files: establishment

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Blame Trump’s Supporters

by Ray Keating

So, how do we explain the Trump phenomenon?

Well, quite frankly, I’m sick of the seemingly endless gymnastics being performed to pin blame for Donald Trump on seemingly anyone but the people actually supporting and voting for Donald Trump.

The list of excuses turns out to be quite lengthy.

Some say it’s President Barack Obama’s fault. After all, he’s been such a bad, weak, left-wing president – and he most certainly has – that Obama has driven people to support Trump. Of course, one does not necessarily follow from the other.

And then there’s the nefarious, mysterious and elusive “Republican Establishment,” which supposedly has not done enough to take on Obama. As a result, the excuse goes, frustrated voters have no choice but to turn to Trump. For good measure, so-called “conservative” talk radio hosts feed the idea of Trump being anti-Establishment, and their listeners follow, accordingly. What the “Establishment” actually is really makes little sense any more, amounting to little more than name calling, while ignoring Trump’s long affiliation with those long distrusted by conservatives, such as Hillary Clinton.

Of course, there also are those darn foreigners. According to Trump, illegal immigrants and free trade with other nations lie at the core of our economic troubles, and the entire D.C. establishment – this time both Democrats and Republicans – stands unwilling to do anything about it. But Trump is ready to round up 11-12 million illegals and kick them out of the country, build a massive wall on our border with Mexico, and dump free trade agreements and impose some big time tariffs. Never mind the economic havoc this would wreak, as well as the human rights violations.

In the end, I don’t even blame Donald Trump for Donald Trump’s success. After all, any candidate who, for example, has flip-flopped (from liberal to populist or conservative) on nearly every major issue for pure political convenience, favors crippling the economy via protectionism and a massive government-forced migration, supports taking private property in favor of crony capitalism, takes foreign policy advice from his own “good brain” and watching television, attacks women (including the wife of anther candidate and Megyn Kelly) in seemingly countless ways, advocates using the military to kill innocent people, donated to his most likely Democratic opponent, mocks war heroes for their brave actions during war, indicates that riots and violence in support of his campaign are okay, has a long list of bankruptcies and shady business dealings, and is not too fond of the First Amendment, deserves only the votes of the flaky few.

Nonetheless, Mr. Trump is well on his way to gaining the Republican nod. There’s no one to blame for this other than the people who are actually voting for this ignorant, dangerous individual. Anger, frustration or whatever other excuses simply do not hold water.

We are each responsible for our actions, and have the responsibility to be informed voters. Trump voters either fail to understand such responsibilities, or care nothing about them.

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Mr. Keating is an economist and novelist who writes on a wide range of topics. His Pastor Stephen Grant novels have received considerable acclaim, including The River: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel being a finalist for KFUO radio’s Book of the Year 2014, and Murderer’s Row: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel winning Book of the Year 2015.

The Pastor Stephen Grant Novels are available at Amazon…

Murderer’s Row: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel

The River: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel

An Advent for Religious Liberty: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel

Root of All Evil? A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel

Warrior Monk: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Cracking the Republican Establishment Conspiracy

by Ray Keating

When it comes to Republican politics, it’s hard to figure out whom the establishment is. Indeed, with Fox bringing back The X-Files, perhaps it’s a job for Mulder and Scully to unearth the true “establishment” conspiracy.

During this presidential election season, the word “establishment” seems to be on the tips of everyone’s tongue, including the media, many conservatives and even liberals.

Today, the establishment seems to be a vague, mysterious group that controls elections and the government in our country. The far Left doesn’t like this establishment as it is viewed as some kind of big business cabal. And when looking at Republican candidates, the media, such as CNN, talk a great deal about who is favored and not favored by this establishment.

But it’s particularly hard to pin down exactly who this establishment is, and what it stands for – especially when looking at “establishment” charges being hurled at Republican presidential candidates. But then again, the best conspiracies are shadowy and hard to pin down, right?

A true establishment once flourished in the GOP. It was the party’s liberal Eastern Establishment, led by, for example, the New York crowd of Governor Nelson Rockefeller, Senator Jacob Javits, and Senator Kenneth Keating (no relation, thank God). There, of course, were many others, such as Lowell Weicker, former senator and governor from Connecticut, and assorted non-Northeasterners like President Gerald Ford.

The key here is that each of these Republicans was unabashedly and unashamedly liberal on a host of issues. For example, Rockefeller loved big government and high taxes, with New York still paying the price for his misguided, costly policies more than three-and-a-half decades after his death. And Weicker was pro-abortion.

To a significant extent, this establishment held great sway over the party, that is, until conservatives took it on, starting really with Barry Goldwater’s nomination in 1964 as the party’s candidate for president. In 1980, of course, Ronald Reagan, distinctly conservative and non-establishment, won the White House, and at that point, the liberal Eastern Establishment in the GOP was in retreat.

Today, other than an oddball elected official here and there, the Republican liberal establishment is dead as a formidable political force. So, what then is all of this talk about a Republican establishment today?

Looking at the basis for “establishment” accusations, it’s not about conservatives taking on liberals. Rather, it’s about a populism that tries to present itself as part of conservatism. But populism feeds on people’s fears, especially these days by making the bad economy about big business, international trade, and immigration. Conservatives understand process of economic growth, while populists view the economy more or less as a zero-sum game, such as, for example, the mistaken notion that there are only so many jobs to go around, and therefore international trade and immigration is about losing jobs and income.

How else can one explain “establishment” accusations being hurled at Senator Marco Rubio, for example? After all, Rubio is pro-life, favors pro-growth tax and regulatory reforms, stands for religious freedom, understands and is strong on foreign policy and national security matters, is unashamed in his Christianity, and wants to kill ObamaCare and replace it with consumer, market-based reforms. Does that sound in any way like an establishment Republican? Of course not, that is, unless one opposes his free trade stance, and argues that he is insufficiently anti-immigration.

To be realistic, there is no all-powerful Republican liberal establishment today. Indeed, the only way to believe that is if one were a populist masquerading as a conservative. Rather, the case can be made that, while far from being consistently principled, conservatives have become the Republican establishment.