CONTRIBUTING EDITOR BILL BRITTON POSTED THIS COMMENT IN RESPONSE TO STEVE MEYER’S PREDICTION THAT A DEMOCRAT WILL WIN THE PRESIDENCY IN 2016.

“The 2016 election might be more difficult to prognosticate, no matter what your metrics might be. In simple terms, the “Trump factor” is a great unknown, whether Trump or another Republican candidate wins his party’s nomination. Trump has pushed the party to a new level of nastiness combined with a jingoistic world view.

Despite what fundamentalists and their ilk might believe, we–Americans–are not the “chosen people.” A combination of geography and natural resources, and the rejection of aristocracy, have made us what we are, at least up to now. However, the moneyed class has displaced the democratic ideal with an ever-more powerful plutocracy. Democracy is a delicate form of governance. Once its elected representatives no longer reflect the will of all the people, that governance becomes a form of political pollution.

Remember the words of Friedrich Nietzsche: “In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs it is the rule.” The question for voters is this: Will insanity decide the next election?”