Is the Country Worth Remodeling, Or Should We Burn It Down and Start Over?

Apparently, a lot of people have come to the conclusion that our country is way past the need for a major remodel; it's a tear-down.

When we elected Donald Trump, we weren't choosing a contractor who was going to fix things up. We hired a wrecking crew.

I dunno, maybe we should
have just torn it down?

And that is why large numbers of Americans favor Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders and in some cases both.

Don’t get me wrong; I love Bernie and loathe Trump. But they do share one quality, and that is that they are both seen as someone willing to burn everything down. And that explains how two such diametrically opposed candidates enjoy support, in some cases, from the same individuals. 

It makes no sense that one person could like both Trump and Bernie if you assume voters are intelligent people who carefully weigh the policies of candidates. But most Trump supporters cannot enumerate any actual Trump policies they favor. They will say they like him because he “tells it like it is” although he certainly doesn’t. They like him because he’s willing to completely ignore every political and social norm.

I happen to agree with a lot of Bernie’s views, but I’m concerned that he couldn’t make effective change, working as he would be in institutions that are entrenched in their ways. However, Trump has done whatever the hell he wants, and nobody around him has known how to stop him. Would Bernie be able to do the same? I really don’t know.

I personally favor Elizabeth Warren because I see her as someone who knows how to guide the country into a better direction without burning it down first. One example: She believes in capitalism, but wants to reform it in a way that would offer more opportunity to ordinary people. That sounds good to me.

I live in a Victorian fixer-upper. It’s a slow and inconvenient project, restoring a house. We just put up new siding. For most of the winter, my stove was in the parlor because we were re-flooring the kitchen. That was fun. We could have torn this house down and started new. It might have been easier, but we think this old place is worth saving. 

I feel the same way about my country.