BOTH POITICAL PARTIES PROMOTE THE STATUS QUO

In gearing up to halt any late surge by presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, traditional Democrats supporting Hillary Clinton are resorting to tactics that mimic the Republican attempt to stop Trump.

As an example, many Republicans have stated that Trump is not really a Republican but a Johnny-come-lately who is masquerading as a conservative. This contention is supported by photos of 

him cozying up to Democrats such as Hillary herself. On the other side, Clinton has claimed that Sanders isn't really a Democrat, pointing to his Independent status as proof. She, however, claims to have been a Democrat all her adult life—meaning that her campaigning for Barry Goldwater was a childhood infatuation. Reporters should have asked Hillary to define "adult" because she was an active Republican until after she turned twenty-one. Perhaps she matured late because anyone who has turned eighteen is legally considered an adult.

Another example of this tactic is how Donald Trump is roundly castigated for being out of the "mainstream," i.e. bucking the establishment." He will destroy the Republican Party many partisans complain. His ideas, such as making our allies pay for their own defense, is "pie in the sky." On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders is roundly booed for being a "Socialist," whatever that means. And the media, which exhibits a biased view in the matter, continues to mention this "flaw" at every opportunity—even going so far as to predict that a "Socialist" has no chance of being elected president in these United States.

Clinton, for her part, often mentions Sanders' policies as being un-implementable while pointing out that there is a vast difference between promises and actually getting things done. In particular "free college" and breaking up the large banks are not going to happen. Her supporters took up this clarion call and derided the notion that anything worth anything was free. Once Sanders' idea took root, Clinton softened her stance and began talking about "free" Community Colleges. In fact, free education existed for nearly a century after federal land-grant colleges were first established in 1862. The radical rise in education costs is a relatively modern, post WWII phenomenon.

Finally, Trump's opponents mention the lack of higher education as an identifier of his supporters (alluding to a low IQ). Opinion polls soon began emphasizing the education levels and ages of the electorate to emphasize this point. Clinton supporters similarly pointed out that Sanders' supporters were mostly young people who were naive and "uninformed" about the political process. They were being taken in by a lack of understanding of "how politics works." So, given that you can't really change things, don't bother trying, it's a fool's errand. Both sides refuse to acknowledge that these candidates are capitalizing on a general disaffection with politics as usual—e.g., the STATUS QUO.

Establishment Republicans and Democrats are deathly afraid that their ability to manipulate the system that has served them so well might be destroyed if these types of candidates are permitted to be taken seriously. Perhaps it is time to destroy the old system and begin anew.