This year’s election is shaping up to be a contest between free stuff and anger. The over reaction to neither one will solve our nation’s problems.

A 3rd grade teacher relates a telling story: a boy and a girl are finalists to be their class president. The boy gives an excellent speech and receives a raucous ovation when he finishes. The girl stands up and says, simply “If you will vote for me I’ll give you ice cream” and sits down. When asked how she will pay for the ice cream she says she doesn’t know. But the class doesn’t care; they just want their ice cream. She wins in a landslide. Well that’s how Obama won in 2012 and that’s how Clinton, and Sanders, are running today but their supporters don’t care. They just want their ice cream.

Trump’s promises (when you look under the hood) appear to be inconsistent with reality but his supporters don’t care because they are (justifiably) angry and they too want their ice cream. And their ice cream is to dump the current establishment. While the GOP seems to be impotent against the Dem’s relentless pull to the left, upon closer inspection, it’s clear that they are simply part of the establishment and therefore they must also go. Trump promises that he is the antidote. On the surface his promise to “make us great again” has a nice sound to it, but as you dig down it simply rings hollow.

Neither our desire for ice cream nor our over reaction to anger will right our sinking ship. That sucking sound you hear is the inevitability of an implosion nearing critical mass. Do your research and then go vote.

tq