American Elections
Well. There were elections in the US on Tuesday. I'm not sure what to say about them. I was certainly not surprised by the outcome. I had hoped to wax wise about it all, but then I read this concise and (I think) accurate assessment of the elections. She does an excellent job of explaining how i feel! I'll share it with you.
" Pollitt: 'Voters have shot themselves in the foot'
Americans angry that the Obama administration bailed out Wall Street have voted for Republicans who will privilege high finance and big business even more. Americans outraged that the Democrats did not cure double-digit unemployment flocked to politicians who think the unemployed don't want to work. Young people, who won expanded access to higher education and healthcare under the Obama administration, stayed home. I know it marks me as an elitist to suggest that American voters are less than wise or well-informed, but yesterday's results really do seem to me like a textbook case of shooting oneself in the foot. If they really think the Republicans will help them they are in for a big surprise. On the other hand, if they voted Republican out of ideology then they will get exactly what they paid for: a crueller, more selfish, and more unfair America in which they themselves will be poorer, sicker and more alone - except possibly in their heads."
Nevertheless, I do have these additional thoughts about it all. After living in Canada these last years, I've come to the conclusion that I like parliamentary democracy much more than the creaking, cobbled-together construct that the Founding Fathers came up with lo! these many years ago. The American constitution was designed at a time when partisan politics -- while it certainly existed -- was generally not acknowledged. The governmental construct Madison and others developed assumed a certain amount of civility and cooperation on the parts of the members of government for it all to work. After Washington's term in office, that civility rarely existed.
The result has been a history of the US that has quite a bit of darkness and nastiness, not all of which is always reported in the history books. The current incivility rampant between today's partisans has not reached the level of beatings on the floor of the House and duels between members of government, but who knows what goes on in the long, dark corridors of power? Who knows what is going to happen next?
I have a bad feeling it won't be good. And all this because a man who promised us change, didn't have the courage to deliver on that promise. I'm sad.
Posted via LiveJournal.app.