The Year of the Crazy Man

Joshua Tree, CA – The guy is absolutely nuts, and no mistake. Complaining about years of things politicians have done wrong, angry at the establishment, he has members of his own party mad at him and scared of him; they say he will destroy the party for years to come, consigning them to perpetually being in the minority. But his supporters see him as a breath of fresh air, saying he “talks like a real human being” and they like that he’s more nuts than polished, they like that he’s says stuff the establishment deems offensive, or partially insane. I am not talking about Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders, I’m talking about Jeremy Corbyn.

Never heard of him? Until a few weeks ago, neither had I. Earlier this year, when Britain held its election for Prime Minister, in a surprise turn of events, the Conservative (Tory) Party won outright majority in Britain, and the opposition party, England’s version of far-left Democrats, the Labor Party, was thrown into disarray as their leader, Edward Milliband resigned, and power plays and infighting erupted, prompting the Daily Telegraph to request “will the last one out of Labor please turn off the lights?”

Now, Labor is holding its election for a new leader. The man who wins this election, if Labor wins the general election in 2020, would be Britain’s next Prime Minister. In the race there was the hoped for “heir-apparent,” the brother of Ed Milliband, David, the polished politician. There was the liberal-backed candidate Yvette Cooper. And of course there were the obligatory establishment candidates. But neither of these are leading in the polls. Instead, it is the wild, plain spoke, total socialist Jeremy Corbyn, who thinks disbanding NATO would be a great idea, and also says if he were in charge, he would get rid of England’s nuclear missiles.

With Trump, Sanders, Corbyn, and such like leading in polls and garnering massive applause from disgruntled voters everywhere, we are left to believe that this is the year of the crazy man. Some may even wonder if the old brands of politicians, who just say what people want to hear, are gone.

Jeremy Corbyn

Of course they’re not. They are here, right now, with us, and Trump, Corbyn, etc. are a part of the same old brand reimagined. Do they believe what they say? I can’t read their minds, so don’t ask me. But it is clear that these men, like seemingly every mainstream politician, have flipped and flopped on everything. As for the straight-talk everyone is in love with? Do you think they’d be talking straight if you didn’t like it? No way. This is simply a new version of political doublespeak, once again giving the people what they want to hear. And because of it, these men are rising in the polls.

What we are seeing here is a new anomaly. A group of men who realize that the word is exhausted of long winded blither-blather and Political Correctness, and so, like true politicians, pandering in form, they serve up exactly what they think the people want.

The folks are lapping it up like liquid chocolate.

Vote for these types of men if you want, based on the issues, if you agree with them; it’s a free country, a monkey can take office if the people vote him in. If you look at history, sometimes they have. However, don’t be fooled into believing that somehow these men are not politicians. They are, rather, calculating would-be-statesmen who are seeking the path they believe will take them to power. They remind one of Claudius, of Rome, who to keep himself safe from the murderous ravages of Gaius Caligula feigned madness and insanity, and in the end it won him the tile of “Emperor of Rome.”

We cannot tell how long this new trend will last. Perhaps, although it is highly unlikely, it will become the new norm to be rude, abrasive, plain spoken and a loudmouth, if you want to be in politics. But however long this lasts, whatever comes of it, if the candidates win or go away, don’t forget, this is simply politics carried on by other means, simply a new version of the Hydra of politics as usual, with another head, because all the other heads are so tired, and people so jaded, that the marketing scheme had to be changed. And the idea this time is that of bucking the establishment by being crazier than a cuckoo bird.

Andrew C. Abbott