The H-Factor in voter turnout
A look at the news analysis and punditry on heavy voter turnout thus far in the 2016 Republican campaign finds the word "anger" cropping up in many such discussions. That refers mostly to voter anger broadly directed toward the federal behemoth in general, but more specifically to the custodian of that government for the past seven years, the Obama administration, and the entrenched liberal bureaucracy that responds all too eagerly to Obama's whim. That same term, anger, is also referenced in almost every analysis of the Trump phenomenon, noting voter outrage against the "Washington Establishment," which, in addition to the Obama administration and the federal bureaucracy, includes the Republican-controlled Congress and ever more frequently to those Obamist Pentagonian princes.
There's insufficient space here to list all the grievances of today's voters, but one issue sure to push their ballistic launch buttons is reminding them that they are being governed by an elite political class who exempt themselves from all the burdensome and oppressive laws and regulations they impose on the rest of us. While the truth of this belief may be more pronounced in the perception than broadly grounded in reality, it just may be the one anger issue that has the most impact on the upcoming presidential election for the simple reason that a current contender and her husband have, for the past three decades, been the chief contributors to this perception of politicians being above the laws.
Bill and Hillary Clinton have flouted the law since their earliest political days in Arkansas, after which their contempt for morality and the law continued to grow throughout their years of ascension to and through the White House. To make it worse, their "no corner left uncut" policy toward the intersection of presidential politics and profit has made these two moral jaywalkers immensely wealthy. Millions of Americans would quickly cite the Clintons as living proof that if not crime, then most certainly unethical behavior does indeed pay and pay handsomely. Rubbing salt into our wounds, the Clintons deflect all charges of their corruption with countercharges of national conspiracies by their enemies to discredit them. That kind of chutzpah is guaranteed to generate some serious surliness within us folks looked upon by the Clintons as a sullen political underclass in Flyovia, pitchfork provincials who should be grateful for the generous privilege of looking up and marveling at their vapor trails.
That liberal Democrats perceive themselves as being far smarter than the rest of us is a given, as is their oft-demonstrated tendency to turn a blind eye to corruption and criminality in their favored politicians. But before the Democrat queen-makers decide that they can sweep Hillary's obvious violations of multiple federal intelligence laws under a mainstream media carpet and then sweep her majesty on to coronation, it would behoove them to take a very careful measure of this anger issue driving these record Republican voter turnouts. Then they should further consider that Hillary is not that popular even among Democrats, many of whom have come to recognize the woman's serial dishonesty, the likely reason for low Democrat voter turnout in 2016 as well as Bernie Sanders's surprisingly strong showing thus far.
Think about this situation: not only do the Democratic Party insist on running a candidate who is hands down the most reviled woman in America, but they insist on doing so in the face of revelations that would already have required any other candidate to step down and retire from all politics. But those Democrat power brokers are so hell-bent on their party electing the first female president that they'll even support a candidate who, were she Jane Doe, would be facing multiple federal felony charges and likely serious prison time. Hillary has had a lot of time since Bill left office to make lucrative promises to a lot of powerful people, so that those folks have a clear interest in seeing her made president, criminal or no – in fact, probably even better if she is, because she'll be easier to manipulate.
And that, folks, is who the Democrats think should be our next president. That sort of blatant corruption really angers a lot of honest and patriotic citizens, and as we are seeing in these primaries, angry citizens vote.
Does anyone doubt that should Hillary escape prosecution and continue her campaign, the likely Republican candidate, Donald Trump, will flagrantly fan those flames of voter outrage into a campaign prairie fire out here in Flyovia, as well as in more traditional Democrat strongholds? That could instigate a Republican and Reagan Democrat turnout that could sweep over the Democratic Party and incinerate it into a blackened husk all the way down ballot. Not only will Trump exploit the voters' anger, but he'll provide it with an already despised focus point that demonstrates perfectly how Washington and the Establishment are corrupt and require his intervention.
Call the resulting blowback the H-Factor. Adding to its effect, excusing Hillary's recent law-breaking likely will revive a rehashing of all the other Clinton scandals that this time around may fall on more acutely tuned Democrat ears now that so many in that party, such as youthful Sanders supporters, openly distrust her and revile her serial sexual predator husband. Democrat power brokers should consider that if Republican voters are turning out now, if they nominate Hillary, they ain't seen nothing yet.
Just wait until that H-Factor kicks into high gear...