A word originating from the Greek work Demokratia, literally translated as “rule of the commoner”.
The Trump success was first thought to be from low income distressed voters, but statistics since found the household median income of Trump supporters was $72,000, well above the national average. So it would seem that Trump supporters were not from the social elite, not from the political elite, nor from the celebrity elite, and even with all his own gaffs and the full force of nearly every member of the media and both Democratic and Republican forces, to stop him, he went on to win.
So who is left to support this man who would upset every applecart in the traditional hierarchy of power in that great nation? Well it would seem that the people on the ground in small town and rural America had grown tired of the attitude of entitlement that has become the mantra of both parties, the media and the huge lineup of actors, comedians, and late night talk show hosts that flocked to join Hillary Clinton and tried their very best to paint this contest into a battle between the obvious person to deserve the job because of her service and sacrifice and oh, yes, because she would be the first woman to be president, up against a loud mouthed, arrogant womanizer whom they tried so hard to prove, was a racist. Over and over they attempted to portray Trump supporters as a ‘basket of deplorables’, old white racists who would do everything in their power to remove the rights of women, Muslims, Blacks and Latinos when they got the power.
But he won anyways. The people who put in the long days working on farms, in forestry, in hospitals, fire departments, construction, carpentry, mining, plumbing, electrical, military and all the many others who work to provide for their families and are then treated with disdain for having an opinion contrary to the elite, came out in droves to make a change. I wish the USA well on their choice and hope Trump can live up to making them great again.
Now for us here in Canada! Who will be our Trump? Here in Ontario, Patrick Brown promised many very concerned, conservative groups across the province, that he would be the leader of a new PC party that would stand up against the elite in that party that has us stuck with a liberal dynasty that continues to plunder the wealth of the working people of Ontario. The ground swell of support for Brown was similar to that of Trump, as the polls and media all wrote him off for leader of the PC as he went up against the party choice, Christine Elliott. But Patrick appealed to the great unwashed and won handily, leaving Elliott the most surprised person in the room because she had been told, by the polls, the media and her campaign team, that she was winning.
So now we have Patrick Brown, leader of the PC party and suddenly he has forgotten how he got elected leader and by whom. He moved into the big house in Toronto and immediately started putting his faith in the same pollsters that predicted he wouldn’t win. Then at the AGM in Ottawa, he introduced the new and improved PC environmental policy on man made climate change and the Carbon Tax solution. What happened to policy from the ground up that he promised in his nomination campaign? Then we had flipping and flopping on the sex education topic, where he threw the so called social conservatives under the bus and rejected them from the party as did Justin Trudeau when he declared that anyone who was not pro-choice, could not be a liberal candidate. And then of course, if you have any kind of Christian affiliations, that pretty much finished off your chances of inclusion in the PC family of politically correct fanatics. Mr. Trump appealed to all those segments of society and the red states versus the blue told the story of elitist artsy left versus the back bone of the country.
Now back to democracy! Mr. Brown promised openly contested nominations in all ridings. However challenging sitting MPP’s has been discouraged by the party back room except in the case of MPP Jack MacLaren, as it would seem that the party is happy to support his challenger. Then in the Carleton riding, the party disallowed two candidates about a week before the nomination election that had been intentionally moved up to eliminate the chances of any late entries. What voice did those constituents who bought PC memberships to support those rejected candidates, have? The dismal turnout at the nomination election in North Gower, told the tale of the disgust people felt.
So even though this great country was built on the premise of Democracy, where “the rule of the commoner” is supposed to be how we create government, it would seem that the PC party does not believe it can trust the common person with the responsibility of picking the candidate to represent them in the party. It seems to me that if you don’t believe in democracy in your party, then you sure won’t be able to defend democracy and its values and you should all join the rabble in the streets protesting the results of democracy in the USA.