The GOP elites' best-ever debate!

I've always thought that American government would be improved by the occasional flaring tempers and ensuing fist-fights some other governments experience. Even the staid British Parliament comes to mind during periods of oratory upheaval.

Unfortunately, the Grand Old Party's elites, which would be the men and women in D.C. actually running the party for the benefit of a few thousand big contributors, some faux think tanks that grind out policy positions no one will ever debate and, of course, themselves would never be stirred to real emotion over much of anything (the Democrats beat us there: think "furlough" Dukakis, rape, murder and Willie Horton).

But then, why should the elites be stirred by one position over another? Their paycheck and campaign contributions (aka political payoffs) arrive with boring regularity, regardless what happens to the rest of the nation or its inhabitants. Their positions and connections protect them from the governmental excess their votes heap upon us. And they don't get out much into the rest of the country – or they would know how we feel.

Washington, D.C., for instance, has armed missile-defense systems in place against terrorist attacks. The rest of us must constantly beat back efforts to disarm us, leaving our families vulnerable to armed criminal and terrorist attack. We are then cautioned about fighting our attackers off with our puny handguns and hunting rifles. Everyone in D.C. agrees: What a wonderful world it would be if only the police and the criminals were armed.

The policies that brought about these attacks are – absent The Donald – beyond polite discussion among our slumbering elites. All agree that we should admit more Muslim refugees (and pretty much anyone else who wants to jump our non-existent border fence) because their big contributors are in need of cheap labor to grow their personal and corporate wealth. These corporate markets are now China and the rest of the world, so it doesn't really matter if people working in the U.S. can afford to buy their products or not. As a way of saying thanks, they are busy merging to become bigger and then moving their corporate citizenship overseas where taxes are lower.

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Were it not for Trump's occasional shadow slipping across the debate stage from his veterans fundraising rally down the street, the "debate" would have been an even more comfortable venue for the GOP elites. As it was, the other candidates were forced to snipe at his shadow, because the man himself was off elsewhere, doing something for other people.

The enduringly sad fact about the GOP as it currently exists in D.C. is that its country club membership has never advanced beyond playing second fiddle. And they never will, because they don't want to. They are comfortable in that position: It relieves them of responsibility for any thought or action they might adopt and then have go wrong.

You might think such a failure would be something as serious as wartime deaths, but it is more likely a dis-invitation from a D.C. dinner party or cocktail hour, or a less than glowing mention in an East Coast newspaper drafted by the paper's Democratic editorial board.

The Democrats, for all their faults, are at least open about wanting to overthrow the Constitution and socialize the economy. The GOP elites will sympathize with you at the cocktail party, slap you on the back and then stick a knife in you when you turn to walk across the room. You can resist the enemy you know; the enemy you don't know is the one who will kill you.

Media wishing to interview Craige McMillan, please contact [email protected].