Issac Newton’s theory of universal gravitation explained the motion of the planets with an invisible force of attraction between bodies having mass. 

The orbit of the planet Mercury has a peculiar little wobble which is perfectly explained by Newton’s theory, if you assume that there is another small planet, Vulcan, that exerts a gravitational pull on Mercury. Vulcan doesn’t exist and never did, but many eminent scientists were certain that it did and some even swore they had seen it through their telescopes.. 

Then Einstein created a new way of understanding things, the General Theory of Relativity, and gravity became a distortion in the space-time continuum.  His theory perfectly explained Mercury’s wobble (and many other things) without needing the gravitational pull of an imaginary planet. The new theory replaced the old theory. 

The old theory used to be that republicans were conservative and liked free markets in economics and character in politicians. As conservatives they valued tradition, the institution of the military and the values of Christian religion. Republicans were thought to be hawkish and willing to use the military to promote democracy and free market business around the world.

And then Trump promised to restrict trade and limit immigration. He said that the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria were stupid and that he knew more than the generals. Along the way he denigrated war heroes and exhibited personal behavior that was not Christian or traditionally republician. In other words, he proposed a new theory for what republicans like.

Political science is related to the hard sciences in the way that what Bill Clinton did with Monica Lewinski is related to sex—same category but messier. In physics a new theory gets tested in carefully controlled experiments, but the laws of physics are unchanging while political science exists in a world of constant change.  The new theory of what republicans like cannot be proved mathematically but that doesn’t matter because the most powerful proof is getting elected president.

The old theory of what republicans like allowed for endless foreign wars, bank bailouts, trade deals that benefitted corporations and screwed workers. Oh wait, those policies were carried out under democratic and republician administrations, because the democratic theory of what voters like isn’t all that different from the old republician theory.  (If you doubt the truth of this statement look at how many democrats now fondly recall the days of George W. Bush.) 

Set aside the racism and rambling, the policies, like tax cuts for billionaires, that are opposite of the promises Trump ran on. Three years into his presidency 40 percent of the country is still solidly behind Trump’s new way of looking at things. So, even if he doesn’t live up to his promises and is unable to successfully apply his theory to the real world, it makes sense to ask what, at the core, this theory is and why it is appealing. 

I think it is this: In a democracy the interests of the citizens are more valuable than the interests of non-citizens. 

This may seem simple and obvious but it directly contradicts the combination of globalism and free trade which has been supported, until recently, by republicans and democrats. What globalism means is that the US military will keep the world safe for trade, especially oil trade, and the forces of free trade will gradually push the wages of American workers down to whatever mark is the global average.

This process doesn’t benefit most Americans. It benefits very rich people (like Trump)  and corporations who profit from lower wages and larger markets—very rich people and corporations who are “citizens” but often don’t have any sentimental or practical ties to this country but are actually “global citizens” meaning that they are committed to whatever place is best for them and their money.

Like the scientists who were so keen to believe Newton’s way of understanding the world that they saw a planet where none existed, most of the democratic candidates for president are proposing variations on the old theory of what voters like. Some of these variations are extreme, some are more moderate and others are just reheated leftovers.

The only democratic candidate proposing a completely new theory for how the country should operate is Andrew Yang. 

For a theory to be successful it has to work consistently over time. It remains to be seen if Trump’s theory will work again this election cycle. Perhaps voters will decide that they want to go back to the old theory, or lose faith in Trump’s ability to deliver results with his new theory. Perhaps Yang’s new explanation for how things should work will replace Trump’s theory. Time will tell.

Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity has proved remarkably successful, durable and even prescient. Then again, Einstein was an actual genius.