Exhibit 27 in the case against Establishment vs. American People

I have long argued that we are not facing a polarization across the political establishment (though that is a small element) but rather we have a rejection by the electorate at large of an isolated, self-serving, self-enriching, cocooned political establishment (Republican and Democrat). An electorate whose patience has been exhausted. We are seeing it happen across the world but especially in Europe.

In the US, it got underway with an internal revolt by the Tea Party in the Republican Party beginning in 2009 seeking to replace establishment Republicans with politicians more aligned with the interests and concerns of the average American. One might argue that the Gingrich Revolution and its associated Congressional reforms was a precursor to the Tea Party. In 2016, it was the turn of the Democrats with the unexpected strength of the Bernie Sanders campaign which threatened the establishment Democrat candidate. To the dismay of both establishment Democrats and establishment Republicans, their candidates were defeated by a political upstart outsider.

The Tea Party has made steady in-roads on the Republican establishment over the years with perhaps their most stunning win occurring in Virginia when they took down incumbent House Majority leader, Eric Cantor and replaced him with an economist. There have been several such upsets since then.

The popular reform movement came late for the Democrats but has been racking up surprises this election round. First there was the Sanders shock in 2016. Then, earlier this year, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old neophyte defeated Democratic incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley, the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House, a fifty-eight year old, nineteen year insider for New York’s 14th Congressional District.

Now, again - Ayanna Pressley Upsets Capuano in Massachusetts House Race. Another Democrat establishment figure falls to the popular revolt.

BOSTON — Ayanna Pressley upended the Massachusetts political order on Tuesday, scoring a stunning upset of 10-term Representative Michael Capuano and positioning herself to become the first African-American woman to represent the state in Congress.

The New York Times interprets this in political/ideological terms.

Ms. Pressley’s triumph was in sync with a restless political climate that has fueled victories for underdogs, women and minorities elsewhere this election season, and it delivered another stark message to the Democratic establishment that newcomers on the insurgent left were unwilling to wait their turn. Ms. Pressley propelled her candidacy with urgency, arguing that in the age of Trump, “change can’t wait.”

If I were an Establishment Republican or Establishment Democrat, I'd be trying to figure out why the electorate rejects the establishment rather than trying to rehash the left-right narrative.

The people versus the establishment seems to me to be the salient issue, not fringe left versus fringe right. Left Right spectrum polarization is simply a symptom of the disease and a distraction being pushed by the mainstream media who are all for the establishment. They are the establishment and their knowledge of and concern for the average American is vestigial at best.