The cult of My Team

Things could have gone very differently for Richard Nixon had only his name been Clinton.

Martha Stewart, General Petraeus, Bernie Madoff, Kenneth Lay ... simply the wrong brand.

Let's say a rich, Republican, cigar-smoking, married CEO with a philandering reputation has been accused of sexual harassment at work and is under investigation. What if during that investigation it is discovered that he is having an affair with an intern, half his age, working for him? What if then he lies about that relationship while under oath, thus committing the felony of perjury? And, to close things out, he pays the first accuser $800,000 to drop the sexual harassment suit?

The question: should that CEO lose his job?

Anyone, liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican or Libertarian, is going to say "Of course ... why are we even debating it?".

But what if the CEO is a Democrat named Clinton?

Talking to Democrats back in 1998: they'll tell you it's a Republican witch hunt and that he only lied about sex and what's the big deal and it doesn't affect his ability to do his job. Nothing to see here.

Fast forward to 2016.

What if anyone - literally anyone - bypassed their company's email system and set up their own private server in their bathroom and transmitted proprietary information?

That's really all you need to know. Of course this employee should be fired. Not promoted!

(Never mind that Clinton's motivation was to avoid the prying eyes of FOIA requests during her presidential campaign, which should by itself be disqualifying.)

What allows such invulnerability? What happens when supporters become so invested that they ignore what would normally be considered crimes and misdemeanors? Are we witnessing a cult phenomenon?

I'm pretty sure we are on the Republican side. Let's call both of these candidacies what they are.

Of course, cult candidacies are unhealthy for a nation. But what causes them? Answer: emotion.

The emotion that comes from an over-reaching government. One that mismanages the Iraq war and loses popular support. One that uses a moment of one-party control to take over health care. One that encourages illegal immigration while GDP stagnates.

In other words, people get pissed and don't think straight. They just want their team to win so they can shove it in the face of their opponents.

Hate. Hillary hate. Donald hate.

It's the only explanation for supporting either of these terrible candidates.