I just have time for a few random comments.
First off, I can’t help but notice Cruz is now saying that we need “more than a few constitutional amendments.” This from a constitutionalist! Someone might say he’s trying to turn the Constitution into the Cruzstitution. I don’t think term limits and a balanced budget are good ideas as amendments. And America isn’t about to pass an amendment that would return marriage to the states; the proper focus for those worried about judicial overreach is to get the Constitution we now have interpreted correctly with new Court appointments. I could go on. But there are two levels of a demagoguery here: First, getting voters to think said amendments could actually be adopted. Second, getting them to think that constitutional amendments should be almost a routine method of achieving change we can believe in. It is good to be reminded that constitutional amendment is a constitutional remedy, but it’s meant to be both safe and rare.
Second, it’s impossible not to notice that stage 2 of reflecting on Trump has taken hold and more. Not only is most everyone now about learning from Trump, there is, as they say, a strange new appreciation for the character of his campaign, if not for the character of the man himself. His rallies, we read, are entertaining, even joyful, celebrations, with tickets in hot demand. And Trump is so funny. When he says that protesters be not only cast into the cold night but deprived of their coats (which will be sent back to them in a few weeks), we know he is joking, but joking in such a way that shows how lame most of the representatives of our major institutions are in fearfully caving to any and all protests. Trump knows (like any entertainer) that all publicity is good publicity, and that’s why he’s having such fun with Cruz on the new version of bogus birtherism. I could go on But something is happening here. I’m certainly not a big fan of it. I’m not looking to score one of his tickets, but I am willing to acknowledge that Trump’s teaching style is resonating with the learning style of lots of Americans — and not without reason.
On the holiday movies: Spotlight and The Big Short are brilliantly executed — with intense but the opposite of self-indulgent performances by our best actors and actresses — displays of corruption, venality, stupidity, greed, contempt, and irresponsible indifference to the lives of ordinary people in two of our huge institutions, Wall Street, in the broad sense, and the Catholic Church. The focus in each case is on the heroism of those with the discipline and savvy to figure out what’s really going on. I hope to have a lot to say about their accuracy – both historical and psychological/spiritual — later. Neither film, I will say now, is sensationalistic or demagogic; the truth has more than enough shock value in each case. Still, you can’t help but think they’re films that serve the causes of both Trump and Sanders. They ought to serve even more those who are about individual rights and the rule of law. We’ll see.