HOTSPOT
Tonyo Cruz
As I write this, it is still uncertain who between Joe Biden or Donald Trump won the Nov. 3 elections. Their leads in the remaining battleground states are shrinking.
Third World countries are known to give delayed election results, but not the United States of America. But here we are. It has happened in America in this age of unmistakable uncertainty and dystopia.
As a consolation, we heard that the Americans’ interest in the elections was so high that the United States achieved the highest voter turnout in the past 100 years. Another historic feat: Roughly 100 million Americans cast their votes ahead of Election Day, by mail or by personally going to the early-voting centers.
Biden is winning the national popular vote. In fact, he has won more votes than any presidential candidate in America’s history. However, his popular vote lead of about three million over Trump still doesn’t matter. Hillary Clinton also beat Trump in the popular vote, but Trump scored the consequential lopsided win in the US-style Electoral College.
Based on current results, America seems bound for another four years of not just divided government. The Democrats kept control of the House, while the Republicans appears to have kept control of the Senate.
Two senatorial races are in limbo, and results of which would finalize the US Senate’s composition. Whoever wins as vice president, whether the reelectionist Mike Pence or Biden running-mate Kamala Harris, could be the deciding vote in case of an evenly-split 49-49 Senate, which is now a possibility.
The elections in America point to the unmistakable weaknesses of a dystopian president such as Trump. He may present himself to the public as strong, but he has failed thus far to achieve a convincing reelection into office. His persistence in demagogic misuse of the American public’s insecurity on their unresolved economic woes prove inadequate for an immediate victory this time. While he still won white women and surprisingly even Hispanics in certain states, his coalition cannot adequately represent the majority of Americans.
On the other end, the Establishment’s forces of political moderation and pragmatism chose to focus on “character”, “moral leadership”, and reclaiming “the soul of the nation”. This messaging also thus far failed to win the argument in a convincing, landslide manner. The sharply-divided electorate likewise denies them the chance to claim triumph over Trump and the policies he stands for.
Considering the current results pointing to an American electorate on a razor’s edge, I guess we can safely say the age of uncertainty and dystopia in the world’s most powerful country will continue for another four years.
Perhaps a relevant and important lesson we could immediately take from what’s turning out as a “season finale” to Amerikka’s Presidency 2020 is that a pandemic cannot be an excuse to delay or cancel an election. America and many other countries have done it since March. There should be no doubt that it could be done in the middle of difficult circumstances.
There have been noises in Congress about the possibility of postponing the 2022 elections. Those noises should be silenced immediately, and the noisemakers ought to be told that they should openly contest and win an extension in public office.
Surely, all political forces in the Philippines are eagerly following the developments in America. Both the administration and the opposition are hoping to take in as much lessons for their own benefit.
For us citizens, it cannot be overstated that registering to vote and voting are obviously not enough. More Americans registered to vote and voted in these elections in record numbers, and that was not enough.
If we look at the daily, multiple live-streamed government briefings, and the high-profile appearances of the faces of the administration, there’s apparently an organized and disciplined effort to position certain personalities before the eyes of the public. They are showcasing their deep political bench, and the extensive use (or misuse) of presidential, public-funded and pandemic-related media efforts for this effort as a preview of what’s in store for the fast-approaching 2022 campaign.
Citizens should not merely register and wait to vote. This early too, citizens should help produce and develop new leaders who we could campaign for. There’s a lot of positions to fill up. For the past elections, traditional politicians not only divvied up positions among themselves, they dominated or monopolized the completing slates of candidates at various levels. If there’s a desire to replace traditional politicians in political offices locally and nationally, it is not enough to vote against them. There should be progressive candidates so that our campaigns to register and to vote would not be in vain.
Traditional politicians are always financially ready to defend their hold on public offices. These are multimillionaires and billionaires who are big landlords or big businessmen. Or they are agents or proxies of these moneyed elite who will not hesitate to spend in order to keep a grip on power. If we wish to challenge the traditional politicians, it is not enough to wish they quit or fall dead. There should be a way to mobilize the public to fund and power up progressive candidates and parties.
Most importantly, would the brand of politics and messaging we now use and offer to the public be adequate to help form a winning coalition of voters with enough voter support to score a landslide? Would notions about the intelligence (and the lack of it) among the elected officials and the voters be a winning argument, or would it unnecessarily widen divisions and instead give the administration the ammunition it needs and wants? Or would there be a common program for political, economic, and social changes that would capture the imagination and support of the public and force a reconstitution of the current coalitions and alliances?
Tough questions, yes? But who said politics is easy?
In the meantime, we join Americans in eagerly waiting for the final results of the US elections.
Tonyo Cruz
As I write this, it is still uncertain who between Joe Biden or Donald Trump won the Nov. 3 elections. Their leads in the remaining battleground states are shrinking.
Third World countries are known to give delayed election results, but not the United States of America. But here we are. It has happened in America in this age of unmistakable uncertainty and dystopia.
As a consolation, we heard that the Americans’ interest in the elections was so high that the United States achieved the highest voter turnout in the past 100 years. Another historic feat: Roughly 100 million Americans cast their votes ahead of Election Day, by mail or by personally going to the early-voting centers.
Biden is winning the national popular vote. In fact, he has won more votes than any presidential candidate in America’s history. However, his popular vote lead of about three million over Trump still doesn’t matter. Hillary Clinton also beat Trump in the popular vote, but Trump scored the consequential lopsided win in the US-style Electoral College.
Based on current results, America seems bound for another four years of not just divided government. The Democrats kept control of the House, while the Republicans appears to have kept control of the Senate.
Two senatorial races are in limbo, and results of which would finalize the US Senate’s composition. Whoever wins as vice president, whether the reelectionist Mike Pence or Biden running-mate Kamala Harris, could be the deciding vote in case of an evenly-split 49-49 Senate, which is now a possibility.
The elections in America point to the unmistakable weaknesses of a dystopian president such as Trump. He may present himself to the public as strong, but he has failed thus far to achieve a convincing reelection into office. His persistence in demagogic misuse of the American public’s insecurity on their unresolved economic woes prove inadequate for an immediate victory this time. While he still won white women and surprisingly even Hispanics in certain states, his coalition cannot adequately represent the majority of Americans.
On the other end, the Establishment’s forces of political moderation and pragmatism chose to focus on “character”, “moral leadership”, and reclaiming “the soul of the nation”. This messaging also thus far failed to win the argument in a convincing, landslide manner. The sharply-divided electorate likewise denies them the chance to claim triumph over Trump and the policies he stands for.
Considering the current results pointing to an American electorate on a razor’s edge, I guess we can safely say the age of uncertainty and dystopia in the world’s most powerful country will continue for another four years.
Perhaps a relevant and important lesson we could immediately take from what’s turning out as a “season finale” to Amerikka’s Presidency 2020 is that a pandemic cannot be an excuse to delay or cancel an election. America and many other countries have done it since March. There should be no doubt that it could be done in the middle of difficult circumstances.
There have been noises in Congress about the possibility of postponing the 2022 elections. Those noises should be silenced immediately, and the noisemakers ought to be told that they should openly contest and win an extension in public office.
Surely, all political forces in the Philippines are eagerly following the developments in America. Both the administration and the opposition are hoping to take in as much lessons for their own benefit.
For us citizens, it cannot be overstated that registering to vote and voting are obviously not enough. More Americans registered to vote and voted in these elections in record numbers, and that was not enough.
If we look at the daily, multiple live-streamed government briefings, and the high-profile appearances of the faces of the administration, there’s apparently an organized and disciplined effort to position certain personalities before the eyes of the public. They are showcasing their deep political bench, and the extensive use (or misuse) of presidential, public-funded and pandemic-related media efforts for this effort as a preview of what’s in store for the fast-approaching 2022 campaign.
Citizens should not merely register and wait to vote. This early too, citizens should help produce and develop new leaders who we could campaign for. There’s a lot of positions to fill up. For the past elections, traditional politicians not only divvied up positions among themselves, they dominated or monopolized the completing slates of candidates at various levels. If there’s a desire to replace traditional politicians in political offices locally and nationally, it is not enough to vote against them. There should be progressive candidates so that our campaigns to register and to vote would not be in vain.
Traditional politicians are always financially ready to defend their hold on public offices. These are multimillionaires and billionaires who are big landlords or big businessmen. Or they are agents or proxies of these moneyed elite who will not hesitate to spend in order to keep a grip on power. If we wish to challenge the traditional politicians, it is not enough to wish they quit or fall dead. There should be a way to mobilize the public to fund and power up progressive candidates and parties.
Most importantly, would the brand of politics and messaging we now use and offer to the public be adequate to help form a winning coalition of voters with enough voter support to score a landslide? Would notions about the intelligence (and the lack of it) among the elected officials and the voters be a winning argument, or would it unnecessarily widen divisions and instead give the administration the ammunition it needs and wants? Or would there be a common program for political, economic, and social changes that would capture the imagination and support of the public and force a reconstitution of the current coalitions and alliances?
Tough questions, yes? But who said politics is easy?
In the meantime, we join Americans in eagerly waiting for the final results of the US elections.