Opposition parties in the UK and USA are in disarray after years of rule by Barak Obama and David Cameron.
Labour in the UK and the Republicans in the USA are both in melt down with radical players making bids for leadership and charging towards radical policies.
In the UK, far left winger Jeremy Corbyn swept to victory in the recent race to take over Labour after the party received a drubbing in the recent general election giving Prime Minister David Cameron a second term in office.
In the US, President Obama is coming to the end of his second term and will stand down in favour of a new leader at the next election.
After so long in power, the Democrats expect a cyclical change by voters to let the Republicans take the helm. The party has taken 31 of 51 state governorships and seems to be where the smart money is going in a bet for who wins the next Presidential vote.
Bad-mouthing and bumbling
However, some unlikely candidates are in the race for the Presidential nomination.
Billionaire Donald Trump has a significant share of the party vote, according to pollsters, but is bad-mouthing and bullying his way to the White House.
His main rival is retired doctor Ben Carson is also doing well in the polls, but comes over as a mumbling, bumbling orator and hardly fits the mould of a world statesman.
Both make outlandish claims and insults against their rivals and President Obama.
Carson likened Obama’s healthcare reforms as worse then 9/11 and for some reason better known to him; suggested abortion is akin to slavery.
Riding a runaway train
Just like Corbyn in the UK, these two fringe candidates have garnered half the votes in polls.
Corbyn, Trump and Carson all have the same factor in common – a distorted view of modern day values and they act as if they are riding a runaway train they don’t know how to control.
The trait on both sides of the Atlantic is that the difference between the party in power and their opposition is wafer then, so candidates delivering more of the same messages are finding they are marginalised rather than the crackpots and one-trick ponies competing for power.
Voters want an effective opposition in Westminster and Washington, but the question is whether the candidates can provide the policies to make the changes the electorates want.