In late 16th Century England, Thomas Hobson ran a thriving freight and passenger business as a licensed carrier between Cambridge and London. He supplemented his income by renting his horses to local university students. As students had their favorite mounts, these horses were overworked while others remained idle.
Hobson solved this problem by rotating horses among the stalls so they all had their turn at the stall nearest the stable door. He offered each customer a choice; rent the horse nearest the stable door, or none at all.
Thus was born a "Hobson's choice;" take the deal offered, or none at all. The strict definition of a Hobson's choice has been expanded to a choice between undesirable alternatives.
Public policy makers often face choices, both of which have undesirable consequences. The bailout of large financial institutions during the Great Recession of 2008-9 is a prime example. Rescue Wall Street big banks from their own greed, stupidity and malfeasance, or let them sink, along with total collapse of the financial system, and American and world economies.
Today's Republican Party faces several Hobson's choices.
The Republican Party welcomed Donald Trump to its gaggle of candidates for the presidency, hailed, however deceptively by the party, as a rich, deep, impressive lineup of talent. Trump initially checked off enough standard Republican boxes to be accepted by the GOP. His early statements on immigration lit up the airwaves. The media, enriched by increased revenues brought in by ads, loved the addition of Trump to the lineup. And the more controversial his statements, the more the media profited by his presence.
It was a win/win situation for the Republicans and the media, as long as Trump was a mere flash in the pan. After all, it was just a matter of time before he bowed out. The only questions were, "When?" and "which candidate would grab his enthusiastic followers?"
Wait a minute. Somehow the interloper wasn't following the script carefully laid out by the GOP and the media. If he didn't voluntarily drop out, experts agreed that those insults of Sen. McCain, Mexicans, women, etc. should have driven him out. The out-of-touch media gurus, along with everybody else for that matter, were shocked. Instead of gracefully exiting and endorsing one of the other Republicans, he destroyed them one by one, including richly financed heir-apparent, Jeb Bush.
He then redoubles his attacks on establishment Republicans, including the Bush brothers, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. Then he has the audacity to deviate from standard Republican dogma. He vows to keep Social Security and Medicare intact, oppose international trade as currently practiced, and even says some nice things about Planned Parenthood. Hey, Mr. Trump, if ya wanna be a Republican star, ya gotta follow the script.
Instead of welcoming him to the fold, they mindlessly bray into the wind, "He's not a real Republican," even as Mr. Trump moves inexorably toward nomination by the Grand Old Party.
So the panic-stricken GOP that created the very conditions under which Mr. Trump could flourish, and the media that collaborated in the Trump Phenom, are more or less collaborating in the "stop Trump" movement. Maybe Mr. Trump's potential (or existing?) list of "enemy journalists" is giving the media pause.
Wisconsin's Reince Priebus, the hapless national GOP Chair, resembles a kid with a toy steering wheel pretending, even believing, that he's driving the car.
So here's the frantic GOP's first Hobson's choice. Mr. Trump lacks a majority of delegates but arrives at the convention with more than Sen. Cruz and Gov. Kasich. Award the impure, unpredictable loose cannon the nomination and any baggage that goes with it. Or, deny him the nomination and infuriate his millions of followers.
The most likely alternative to Trump is the more dependably conservative, but unlikable, Sen. Cruz. Now there's a real Hobson's choice, the very two candidates the establishment least wanted.
If Mr. Trump arrives at the convention with a majority, or is awarded the nomination on a subsequent ballot, the GOP faces another Hobson's choice. They can all kiss and make up, accepting the loose cannon as top of the ticket, while living in fear of what his next deviation from Republican dogma will be. Heck, all those insults - just a friendly family squabble.
Or, they can reluctantly accept him and either disavow or spin each of his positions in ways that minimize damage - politics as usual.
Each down-ticket GOP candidate in a close House or Senate race will face their own specific Hobson's choice; glom onto Trump with the accompanying risks, or distance themselves from their presidential candidate, disavowing selected stances.
The "stop Trump" movement has thus far focused to a great degree on issues of race, particularly his real or alleged - take your choice - failure to rapidly and forcefully renounce the KKK and David Duke. This is disingenuous on the part of both the GOP and the media, not because of Mr. Trump. It is because the GOP has been playing the race card since their "southern strategy" beginning in the 1960s. It's a bit late, and disingenuous, for the GOP to knock Trump on race issues.
The GOP is missing pretty much the same thing that too many Democrats have been missing until Senator Sanders woke them up. Millions of Americans have been left behind economically. Incomes have been stagnant for several decades and millions see no future, for themselves or their children. They feel marginalized and abandoned by both parties.
Instead of the GOP establishment taking a hard look at their program, and speaking to the disaffected, they continue their standard orthodoxy of more deregulation, tax cuts for the wealthy, and trickle-down economic snake oil.
Does this mean that the Democrats have a clear path to the White House? Of course not. Trump could win the presidency. Only a fool would not take him and his supporters seriously.
Next week: Economic security as the central issue.
- John Waelti of Monroe, a retired professor of economics, can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net. His column appears Fridays in The Monroe Times.
Hobson solved this problem by rotating horses among the stalls so they all had their turn at the stall nearest the stable door. He offered each customer a choice; rent the horse nearest the stable door, or none at all.
Thus was born a "Hobson's choice;" take the deal offered, or none at all. The strict definition of a Hobson's choice has been expanded to a choice between undesirable alternatives.
Public policy makers often face choices, both of which have undesirable consequences. The bailout of large financial institutions during the Great Recession of 2008-9 is a prime example. Rescue Wall Street big banks from their own greed, stupidity and malfeasance, or let them sink, along with total collapse of the financial system, and American and world economies.
Today's Republican Party faces several Hobson's choices.
The Republican Party welcomed Donald Trump to its gaggle of candidates for the presidency, hailed, however deceptively by the party, as a rich, deep, impressive lineup of talent. Trump initially checked off enough standard Republican boxes to be accepted by the GOP. His early statements on immigration lit up the airwaves. The media, enriched by increased revenues brought in by ads, loved the addition of Trump to the lineup. And the more controversial his statements, the more the media profited by his presence.
It was a win/win situation for the Republicans and the media, as long as Trump was a mere flash in the pan. After all, it was just a matter of time before he bowed out. The only questions were, "When?" and "which candidate would grab his enthusiastic followers?"
Wait a minute. Somehow the interloper wasn't following the script carefully laid out by the GOP and the media. If he didn't voluntarily drop out, experts agreed that those insults of Sen. McCain, Mexicans, women, etc. should have driven him out. The out-of-touch media gurus, along with everybody else for that matter, were shocked. Instead of gracefully exiting and endorsing one of the other Republicans, he destroyed them one by one, including richly financed heir-apparent, Jeb Bush.
He then redoubles his attacks on establishment Republicans, including the Bush brothers, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. Then he has the audacity to deviate from standard Republican dogma. He vows to keep Social Security and Medicare intact, oppose international trade as currently practiced, and even says some nice things about Planned Parenthood. Hey, Mr. Trump, if ya wanna be a Republican star, ya gotta follow the script.
Instead of welcoming him to the fold, they mindlessly bray into the wind, "He's not a real Republican," even as Mr. Trump moves inexorably toward nomination by the Grand Old Party.
So the panic-stricken GOP that created the very conditions under which Mr. Trump could flourish, and the media that collaborated in the Trump Phenom, are more or less collaborating in the "stop Trump" movement. Maybe Mr. Trump's potential (or existing?) list of "enemy journalists" is giving the media pause.
Wisconsin's Reince Priebus, the hapless national GOP Chair, resembles a kid with a toy steering wheel pretending, even believing, that he's driving the car.
So here's the frantic GOP's first Hobson's choice. Mr. Trump lacks a majority of delegates but arrives at the convention with more than Sen. Cruz and Gov. Kasich. Award the impure, unpredictable loose cannon the nomination and any baggage that goes with it. Or, deny him the nomination and infuriate his millions of followers.
The most likely alternative to Trump is the more dependably conservative, but unlikable, Sen. Cruz. Now there's a real Hobson's choice, the very two candidates the establishment least wanted.
If Mr. Trump arrives at the convention with a majority, or is awarded the nomination on a subsequent ballot, the GOP faces another Hobson's choice. They can all kiss and make up, accepting the loose cannon as top of the ticket, while living in fear of what his next deviation from Republican dogma will be. Heck, all those insults - just a friendly family squabble.
Or, they can reluctantly accept him and either disavow or spin each of his positions in ways that minimize damage - politics as usual.
Each down-ticket GOP candidate in a close House or Senate race will face their own specific Hobson's choice; glom onto Trump with the accompanying risks, or distance themselves from their presidential candidate, disavowing selected stances.
The "stop Trump" movement has thus far focused to a great degree on issues of race, particularly his real or alleged - take your choice - failure to rapidly and forcefully renounce the KKK and David Duke. This is disingenuous on the part of both the GOP and the media, not because of Mr. Trump. It is because the GOP has been playing the race card since their "southern strategy" beginning in the 1960s. It's a bit late, and disingenuous, for the GOP to knock Trump on race issues.
The GOP is missing pretty much the same thing that too many Democrats have been missing until Senator Sanders woke them up. Millions of Americans have been left behind economically. Incomes have been stagnant for several decades and millions see no future, for themselves or their children. They feel marginalized and abandoned by both parties.
Instead of the GOP establishment taking a hard look at their program, and speaking to the disaffected, they continue their standard orthodoxy of more deregulation, tax cuts for the wealthy, and trickle-down economic snake oil.
Does this mean that the Democrats have a clear path to the White House? Of course not. Trump could win the presidency. Only a fool would not take him and his supporters seriously.
Next week: Economic security as the central issue.
- John Waelti of Monroe, a retired professor of economics, can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net. His column appears Fridays in The Monroe Times.
