For more than 200 years, the tale of George Washington and the cherry tree has symbolized the virtue of America’s first president and, by his example, the importance of integrity as an attribute of political leadership. Unfortunately, the cherry tree story is a myth, concocted in 1806 by an enterprising preacher, Mason L. Weems, who hoped to bolster the flagging sales of his rather shallow biography of Washington. While it may seem ironic that an anecdote designed to highlight the importance of truth telling is, itself, a fabrication, this irony is precisely the significance of the story. Parson Weems’ fable helps to illustrate the duplicity and hypocrisy so often at the heart of the political process
Struggles in the GOP
The conflict within the GOP over the possibility of a Trump presidential candidacy has laid bare the various divisions within the Republican party. All political parties, to be sure, are composed of factions. The Democrats, however, will have little difficulty agreeing on Hillary Clinton. For some Republicans, Trump is a difficult pill to swallow.
The Value of Violence: How Trump Makes Use of Campaign Violence
Over the past several days, we have seen a number of violent clashes between Donald Trump’s supporters and anti-Trump protestors at Trump campaign rallies. One campaign event, a scheduled Trump appearance in Chicago, was called off by the candidate because of the threat of escalating violence.
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President Trump?
It now seems all but certain that the November, 2016 national election will pit Hillary Clinton against Donald Trump. If Clinton runs a conventional Democratic campaign designed to appeal to Progressive and minority voters with the assumption that working-class white voters will support the Democrats, she will lose.
Clinton vs. Sanders: Revenge of the Sparring Partner
No one, especially Hillary Clinton, ever thought Bernie Sanders could actually win the Democratic presidential nomination. From the Clinton perspective, a Sanders candidacy was merely a useful campaign tool. Sanders would provide the appearance that Hillary Clinton had actually competed for the nomination, would draw media attention to the mock debates and pseudo-campaign and would offer the rather creaky Clinton machine an opportunity to tune up for the general election. In essence, Clinton viewed Sanders as a useful sparring partner.
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