The most dangerous perspective in these times of turbulent transition, is to assume that the past is prelude to the future. My experience of the future is that when it finally shows up it’s neither as good nor as bad as predictions suggested; it’s just vastly different. The point of the Trump/Brexit phenomenon is that if you expect it and you plan for it, that’s a good bet that it’s probably not going to happen.

The left refuses to learn from this, proceeding as though they got their way after all, and just give us a minute or two while we make a few adjustments, tweak the machinery—we’ll have the inevitable grand march of history back on track in a jiffy. You betcha.

Those not of the left (I don’t believe the old cold/war dichotomy of right/left describes anything relevant these days) were likewise taken by surprise and clearly were woefully unprepared to discover that 1) they still had a voice and power, if they’d exercise it, and 2) the extent to which they’d ceded power and status over the past decades to people who hate us. Nor did we anticipate the depth of opposition that we would face.Trump knew draining the Seamp wouldn’t be easy; I don’t he expected that he’d be doing it virtually alone.

But Trump and Brexit are not merely transitional, they are transformational, and in this country, I look forward the the emergence of our new political parties, one openly socialist and scornful of everyone else, the other, everyone else. The forces Trump uncovered do not owe themselves to him; but he did provide the focus and opportunity for them to find their voice. Those forces will endure past Trump.

But socialism as an organized, worldwide structure has been around since 1865. The present Socialist International has been working it’s magic for 70 years. They aren’t going any where either.

The danger with any populist movement is that inevitably, they must generate a bureaucracy to keep it from disintegrating into a mob. As The Who,so aptly put it: “meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.”

Leftists are fast becoming The Ignorables. If only we could.