McCarthy: The Problem Is Not the Presidential Candidates

Excellent insights this morning from Andrew McCarthy writing over at PJMedia:

We should always be on guard against presentism, but in this instance I do not hesitate to say that the upcoming presidential election is the most alarming in American history. I can make that statement with confidence because I do not believe the most disturbing aspect of the election is the choice of candidates – even though the two major party nominees present the worst choice the American people have faced in my lifetime (Eisenhower was president when I was born), and perhaps ever.

The reason this is such a frightening election is that the Constitution’s mechanisms for reining in or ousting a rogue president are in tatters.

We are not supposed to have transformative elections, contests that will forever change our system of government or enable government to orchestrate cultural upheaval. The Constitution is supposed to be our guarantee against that.

Read it all.

This is the overriding concern: the controls embedded in U.S. Constitution have been effectively worn down by leadership in Washington (both parties).  No one candidate — whether you believe Clinton to be a disaster or Trump to be a tyrant — should have the ability to recklessly endanger the entire federal government.

The failures are indeed in the ruling class.  What is left to be seen is whether constitutionalists — who in good faith either oppose Trump or support him as a strongman — will continue to work in common purpose after November 8th.

I personally doubt this will happen in the rank-and-file, but it should be happening among those who deal in ideas… and there are precious few of those remaining in an America that feels more than it considers, weighs, and thinks.