THE PRAIRIE EDITOR: Chronic Stalemate Everywhere

We seem to be in, and surrounded by, political stalemate.

The global variety takes many forms. In Israel, no one can form a
government. In Great Britain, the government cannot fulfill a
national vote to leave the European Union (Brexit). In Hong Kong,
China cannot end protests. In Venezuela, the citizenry cannot
overthrow a destructive dictatorship. In the Middle East, its
neighbors cannot stop Iran from building nuclear weapons.
Europe cannot manage out-of-control immigration. Brazil cannot
stop a failing economy. South Korea can’t get along with Japan.
Central America cannot halt runaway emigration. Spain cannot
end the Catalan secession movement. And Italy, as always, cannot
be governed.

In the U.S., the attempt to undo its 2016 presidential election, an
effort begun on election night, does not stop. The latest effort is a
renewed effort to impeach the president.

Before that election, I came up with the phrase “media coup d’etat”
to describe the effort to PREVENT Donald Trump’s election. Now
others are calling the U.S. house of representatives impeachment
inquiries a legislative coup. One writer described the environment
as a “permanent coup.”

Nothing in politics, however, is permanent. I prefer to call our
present circumstance as “chronic stalemate.”

In democracies, the remedy for stalemate is an election. (Although
the British and Israelis seem to be defying this!) In totalitarian
nations, the remedy is much more problematic.

In the U.S. variety, the current effort for impeachment is almost
purely a political strategy --- although it masks itself as a judicial
process. It is highly partisan and very risky politically. At the same
time, the two major political parties have begun the regular process
of a national election to take place a year from now. The two are
inextricably linked.

Not only are disruptive political leaders at work in the U.S.. They
are at work around the world in may nations. Their personalities
make individual headlines, and establishments everywhere resist
them, but the phenomenon of chronic stalemate is a signal of a
more universal transformation provoked by technology, ideologies,
natural forces and the distribution of resources.

Chronic stalemate is not going to end any time soon. In fact, we
might not have seen the worst of it. Be alert. Be prepared.

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Copyright (c) 2019 by Barry Casselman. All right reserved.