By AH Scott Lyngdoh
Elections to any important office in the world is not of much interest to most people, except the American Presidential election which is a contest for the most powerful post in the world, the reverberations of which will be heard for a long time well beyond American shores. As of today, nine days before the poll Clinton leads Trump, but a warning from Trump who repeatedly says he will not accept the results unless he himself is the winner. Now let’s turn to another aspect which might appear far-fetched, dramatic and an unreality about the world’s only superpower. It is a chance reading of Andrew Sullivan’s ‘America has never been so ripe for tyranny.’ The passage is from Plato’s Republic describing democracy as a political system of maximal freedom and equality, where every lifestyle is allowed, and the longer it lasts the more dramatic it would become. Its freedoms would multiply; its equality spread. Deference to any sort of authority would wither; tolerance of any kind of inequality would come under intense threat; and multiculturalism and sexual freedom becomes a happy hunting ground devoid of all restrictions. And when all barriers to equality, formal and informal, have been removed; when everyone is equal; when elites are despised and full license is established to do “whatever one wants”, you arrive at what might be called latestage democracy. And it is when democracy has ripened as fully as this, Plato argues, that a would-be tyrant will also seize his moment. Andrew Sullivan adds that “peak Trump” has arrived, in the wake of the latter’s recent primary triumphs against more qualified political peers in the Republican Party, is this not a test of democracy’s singular weakness- its susceptibility to the demagogue.
On the other hand, contrary to this somewhat bizarre interpretation American democracy has thrived over two centuries enriched by migrants from every part of the globe. To guard its democracy, huge and hefty barriers have been erected as a bulwark between the popular will and exercise of power. Election of the President and Vice-President strictly speaking is by an electoral college, the Senate structure balances State and Federal interests, the Supreme Court picked by the President and confirmed by the Senate, embodies the separation of powers as the sturdy fire walls against democratic wild fires. Likewise it may be added about Indian Democracy which is on firm ground, not relying in the main, on the whims and fancies of intemperate voters, keeping out any would be demagogue through the tried and tested electoral system.
It is a contest between two unpopular candidates; one is more unpopular than the other. Hillary Clinton is said to be untrustworthy, bossy and greedy, picking up the riches not to be shared with others and has an inordinate lust for power. She is termed as crooked Hillary viewed against the background of the Wiki Leaks and email scandals. She was criticized for her role as US Secretary of State for not providing adequate security prior to the Benghazi attack causing precious American lives. Her harsh treatment of women involved in her husband’s sexual peccadilloes came under the scanner. Trump’s popularity began to slide considerably with the release of the video tapes in which he describes women as play things and of vicarious pleasures. As on 23-10-16, eleven women came forward at different times to complain of Trump’s sexual misconduct. Trump represents an expression of racism, misogyny, all-round ignorance and immaturity, not thinking deeply on any issue except his own selfinterest.
So the election results will not be on the strength of policies and programs of either candidate. Sad to say that neither climate change, nor the economy, nor foreign policy or jobs or gun-violence were ever discussed in a meaningful manner. America’s unique system of pre-nationwide voting, about 3 million have already cast their votes. Any talk of a rigged election is nonsense because both parties participate in the voting process at all levels. A Clinton victory seems certain, but one of Trump’s hatchet men, Roger Stone, has already threatened to publish the hotel rooms of delegates who refused to vote for Trump. Don’t take anything for granted, while recalling the overwhelming prediction that Governor T. E. Dewey of New York would win the American Presidential election in 1948 losing unexpectedly to Harry Truman. The American public have an ominous choice ‘who will have access to the nuclear codes?’. Will Donald be Hillary’s “trump” card?