So, I decided I should do a more level headed analysis now that the conventions are over. I talked about the conventions a lot on here, giving day by day analyses, but now I want to bring it all together and give my general thoughts on both parties and what they offer.
Republicans
The RNC came off as strange to me. It almost had very much a creepy fascist type vibe to it. They pointed to a world in turmoil, with threats coming out of the woodwork everywhere, both at home and abroad, and Trump came off as the savior. The person who will bring order out of chaos and who will deal with all threats, foreign and domestic. At home, he's the "law and order" candidate, following in the footsteps of Nixon. Abroad, he was seen as the strong man who will keep us safe
Even worse, while it is expected that Trump and the Republicans would attack Hillary Clinton, the hate and vitriol was just too intense for my tastes. This isn't the same vibe I get from Bernie supporters by the way, who are just pissed off at a broken corrupt system that isn't listening to them. I felt like....a kind of mob mentality here. Especially with Christie's speech, which seemed to come only a step or two from burning an effigy of Clinton on stage.
The republicans seem totally out of touch with reality, out of touch with the world, and they seem angry and running to authoritarianism. I can see why people liken Trump to Hitler. While invoking Godwin's law might be a bit excessive, the whole thing really does give a creepy vibe similar to his rise to power in the 1930s.
The republicans had some good points at times though. They criticized the state of the economy, and while I don't think Trump has the slightest idea how to fix it, it seems like the republicans at least recognize something is wrong and that we need to fix it. I don't think they understand the actual problems and how to solve them though. Nor do the elites care, since their brand of trickle down economics got us into this mess in a lot of ways.
So, that's my opinion of the republicans. They seem to be driven by fear of enemies that may or may not exist, hate, and frustration with the economy. And Trump packages himself as their savior, saying things like "only I can fix it." As I said, it's actually quite creepy.
Democrats
The democrats seemed better than the republicans, but I still wasn't impressed. Clinton and the DNC acted like they wanted to win everyone over and unite the party, but all in all, it just seems so fake. Sanders supporters were largely ignored, outside of a few speeches, and even then calling Clinton a progressive who hears our concerns is a joke, considering how she's your run of the mill democratic centrist.
Sanders supporters were, for all intents and purposes, largely ignored. We were lectured and condescended to on the first night, and largely ignored for the rest of the convention. I've heard stories on the internet of subtle ways that Sanders supporters were largely silenced where they couldn't cause a fuss. And of course, the protests outside only got minor coverage at best (they were supposedly thousands strong).
The entire thing reminded me of the Hunger games. A choreographed spectacle intended to appeal to the masses, but which underplays and ignores a major undercurrent of general discontent. They tried to appear more united than they were.
Most groups that were appealed to were done so in a way to dig Trump and maybe win over republicans. There was way too much religion in it. Heck there was about as much talk of faith and God as you would expect from the republicans maybe. Don't quote me on that, I didn't measure or anything. There was a large focus on illegal immigrants and the disabled, which was a direct screw you to Trump in a way. And all in all, while there was some focus on substance, the entire thing felt like a huge emotional appeal. They spent more time trying to humanize Clinton and tell people how much she cares about children and families and women and blah blah blah.
As a childfree white male progressive left wing atheist, the entire thing just didn't appeal to me. Again, as I've said in other posts, it's not bad they tried to appeal to a lot of these different groups. I mean, the democratic party is diverse, diversity is good, and the whole world and its problems don't revolve around me. I understand that. But all in all, they did little to really push a progressive economic message, and when they tried, it just sounded so fake because Clinton's style of "progressivism" is quite moderate. I mean the more I process what was said, the more I recognize that they just gave us rhetoric with no real substance to back it up.
Generally speaking, they ran to the right, tried to win over disaffected republicans, tried to appeal to their base on issues other than economics, when they tried to discuss economics they watered it down to the center to appeal to the centrists and even the center right, and the left was largely snubbed and alienated. As I said, it was this Hunger Games-esque spectacle that keeps people distracted and passive while downplaying the undercurrents of division and discontent within the party. They went on with business as usual hoping that the Bernie people would just shut up or go away.
Conclusion
All in all, the democrats were way better than the republicans, but all in all, neither impressed me. The republicans came off as fundamentally out of touch with reality and their message even scared me because it reeked of strong man authoritarianism. The democrats were more open and tolerant and tried to appeal to more people, but they still seemed to largely ignore or snub Bernie supporters and went on doing what they wanted to do in the first place. Even when they tried to appeal to us it seemed fake because it was all words and no substance. Whoever wins, the next 4 years are going to suck.
Bonus: I might as well discuss the libertarians since they had their convention too
I covered the libertarians a while back. Their convention was largely a disaster if I recall. Their voting base seems to be made up of a lot of extremists and cranks who want to do away with driver licenses and sell heroin to 5 year olds, and let's not forget the naked guy dancing on stage. I know there are a lot of less extreme libertarians out there, but the libertarian base by and large scares me....
As for Johnson, he is a relatively solid candidate and all, and I'd recommend any right winger unsatisfied with Trump to give him a shot. He's not my cup of tea but he's fairly moderate by libertarian standards and is nevertheless a solid candidate.
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