Election Day!
I have to admit that returning to the United States in the midst of this whole big election was rather exciting. Seeing all the lawn signs, the bumper stickers, the tee-shirts, etc. Nothing screams "AMERICA!" louder than the red, white, and blue stickers and signs everywhere, the dramatic voiceovers and cheesy music of campaign ads, etc. Now, the election is finally here.
I voted for Barack Obama in this election. I did so for the following primary reasons: the necessity of large-scale solutions to modern problems in a globalized economy, my contempt for the tenor of conservative politics, and the competency of Obama's governance.
I used to be a Republican. I used to identify as such, because to me, government represented inefficiency, bureaucracy, inertia, etc. The thinking was that a government that was large enough to grant those what they wanted was also large enough to take all those things away. The truth is that there already exists a myriad of institutions that we are unsettlingly dependent, as we learned with the expression "too big to fail." The question isn't whether or not government is too big; the question is whether or not a balance exists among public and private institutions that ultimately benefits the public in the long term. As we see our once-proud infrastructure continue to crumble from neglect, as we see more news headlines of banks and conglomerates screwing over their investors and customers, as we see the wages and the rights of workers continue to erode under the weight of multinational conglomerates, it becomes more evident that government needs the necessary resources in order to have the ability to uphold this balance of power.
I used to have respect for Mitt Romney. Once upon a time, his political career seemed to be defined by business-savvy efficiency and cooperation among multiple groups of stakeholders (including two opposing political parties). Now, he is the unfortunate product of an election cycle that has hallowed his heart and has produced nothing more than an empty shell who will say anything to be President. I realize that the thinking goes that ALL politicians will say anything to be elected. However, Romney's campaign has shown a unique brand of inconsistency whose utter insincerity should bring enough scorn to both liberals and conservatives to be, in itself, a unifying force. His hallow heart has combined with the conservative political machine's blatant disregard for facts and reality to generate campaign rhetoric that is objectively false and easily disprovable to the casual Google search or Youtube visit. My worst fear about a Romney victory isn't the policies he'd implement; it's what it would say about the American public to reward someone with a victory after he has run such a blatantly dishonest and cynical campaign. That sort of precedent would only encourage future Presidential campaigns to employ the same tactics of factual irreverence. In the absence of facts, the only thing left is vitriol. Which worries me, given the division already inherent in our country.
Barack Obama has a long list of accomplishments. And I wish he would've articulated them more proudly. My feelings on much of his achievements are that they were great but not enough. We now know that the fiscal stimulus needed to be bigger in order for unemployment to have reached the 8% target sooner. Healthcare reform should have included the public option. As an environmentalist, I wish Obama would be tougher on the fossil fuel industries and other heavy-emission industries. Despite my impatience with him on many fronts, he has shown a calm, steady, and measured style of leadership that is extremely commendable. This sort of calculated competence in a presidency is welcome after some of the debacles we saw in previous years. He has shown that government can work efficiently and effectively for the people where it is given sufficient resources.
It is for these reasons that I support Obama - in fact, more steadfastly than in 2008. In my opinion, he has proven himself - even during one of the most unstable times in our history against one of the most contemptuous Congresses in history - to be an excellent leader and commander-in-chief.
I will note also that I'm troubled by the increasing polarity of partisan politics in the US. In the context of what has been a very divisive campaign season between two parties that don't offer much choice on some key issues (e.g. civil liberties, defence spending, drug legalization), it would be really nice to see an effort for electoral reform that would help break the deadlock of two-party politics. I would like to see reforms put in place to enable smaller parties to compete in elections. These reforms could include ceasing the electoral college, ceasing use of first-past-the-post voting, and developing a more objective (i.e. less prone to party politics) manner in drawing boundaries for Congressional districts. It seems like there were lots of folks who weren't particularly keen on either Obama or Romney in this election season, and now would be a great time to discuss ways to open up political discourse to other parties.
Below is a neat video that explains first-past-the-post voting and how, no matter what country, it inevitably leads to a deadlocked two-party system.
Click to viewWell, that was my election-day rant. Regardless of how much of this post you agree with or disagree with, remember to get out there and VOTE!