Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Maybe, for now, we need a bull in a china shop

Samantha Strayer writes at The Federalist,
Even though Trump sounds so New York, he has universal appeal. He can, in one week, easily connect with thousands of northeasterners (New Hampshire), deep-South southerners (Alabama), and Midwesterners (Iowa). His speeches are basically the same in content, and he doesn’t have to change his accent depending on the geography. He is also making surprising inroads with Democrats, Independents, and blacks.

...Trump’s views on immigration alone have provided a standard by which we assess other candidates.

...Additionally, once-suppressed language now pervades the news. By forcing the issues, using clear language, and expressing the feelings millions share, Trump has thrown into sharp relief the suffocating effects of political correctness. Most people desperately want to speak freely and clearly. Since we haven’t had much practice doing that for decades, it’s going to be a bit rough and spasmodic at times. So we need to cultivate the art of making sound, principled arguments; not just venting emotions. That’s going to take practice and time. Thankfully, we’ve already seen progress such that when Debbie Wasserman Schultz scolds Jeb Bush for using the phrase “anchor babies,” she sounds like a school hall monitor.

Trump is a spectacle, feral and unpredictable. His effects, like refracted light, show more than a particular man at a particular point in history. No one person, not even Trump, can resolve the problems that beset the country. There is no panacea, no silver bullet. Yet Trump has done hard labor. He has begun the necessary process of unleashing suppressed language, thoughts, and ideas that need the oxygen of public discourse to make anything substantial possible. This is vital to our survival.
Read more here.

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