‘The establishment’ my foot

I was sitting in a room with a small group of colleagues, representing a few think tanks in town, talking about the new defense budget, needed changes, and the declining reach of the US military. It was a good, smart, bipartisan conversation. But then our host sighed, and noted that it didn’t matter what we would come together to say, because we are “the establishment” and no one will listen. I called BS, and now I want to call BS on every single candidate who paints themselves as an outsider and an enemy of “the establishment.”

Here’s the deal. Of course there are Washington creatures and beltway insiders and fixers and institutions that feed at the trough of big government. But actually living in DC doesn’t qualify anyone as a member of “the establishment.” Washington is full of decent people fighting to make the country a better place, not for themselves, but for their fellow Americans. And guess what? You can’t change Washington from Dubuque or LA. The Tea Party was about throwing out one group of DC denizens and sending another here. Yes, here. Marco Rubio was a Tea Party candidate who took on the hand-picked princes of the GOP and won. Now he’s part of “the establishment”? Even Barack Obama, who gets few points from me on domestic or foreign policy, is no elitist scion of the Democratic aristocracy.

Twenty20,

Meanwhile, Donald Trump — a guy who goes to Wharton, inherits tens of millions from his father, and donates to politicians on both sides of the aisle to grease his deals — is the anti-establishment outsider? Or Ted Cruz — who went to Princeton, Harvard Law, clerked for a Supreme Court Justice, worked for a boutique law firm, and was a political appointee at the Federal Trade Commission?

If they are anti-establishment, then the words have no meaning.

Bottom line:

• Serving constituents in our democracy doesn’t make members of the House of Representatives or Senate “the establishment.” Kudos for braving the gauntlet of press and voters to stand for something.

• Bipartisanship doesn’t make any one of us a member of “the establishment.” The problem with Washington is things don’t get done. Reaching across the aisle is a virtue, not a vice.

• Working at a think tank and generating new ideas for better governance doesn’t make anyone part of “the establishment.” My colleagues and I on the left and the right are working every day to help our leaders do the right thing.

• Writing for a national newspaper doesn’t make successful journalists “the establishment.” They’re at the pinnacle of their fields, and we love success in America.

• Heading to work every day at the Department of Health and Human Services or Interior or State doesn’t make those people part of “the establishment.” Is government too big? Yes, but that’s the fault of our leaders, not the people who are serving their nation.

Seriously, when did we become a country that thinks service, success, respect and courtesy doomed a man to dismissal by the hordes as a member of “the establishment”? Since when did we become a country that exudes contempt for our neighbors? For our friends? Since when did we become a country that despises the honest toil of hardworking Americans, even those in our nation’s capital?

Is there an “establishment”? Yes. The Bushes and the Clintons are there. So are Trump and Cruz. But few of the other candidates are, and it’s time someone smacked down this ridiculous meme.

H/T to Marc Thiessen, who helped me veer out of my lane for this post.

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