What does the Virginia election matter when the American establishment itself is rotten?

The Virginia gubernatorial election campaign in full swing. Photo: Rashmee Roshan Lall

The day of the November 2 Virginia gubernatorial election, I finally got round to reading Ed Luce’s contribution in the Financial Times’ Swamp Notes. The four-year-old, twice-weekly newsletter addresses “the intersection of money and power in US politics”. Mr Luce and another of the FT’s big brains and senior US columnists, Rana Foroohar, take it in turns to “discuss the biggest themes driving US politics, business and markets from Washington, New York and beyond”.

This is rather a long way of saying that Swamp Notes is generally on point and very sharp about it too.

Mr Luce’s most recent observations bore the headline “That creeping sense of western dread” and made a very important point: Namely, that America’s establishment is worth trillions but has little morality or ethics and thereby no right to society’s respect.

Mr Luce noted that nearly a year since Donald Trump was defeated by Joe Biden, thing…