Reagan-Thatcher ghosts hover over US election

During the last two months of my current stay in the United States, I have followed the presidential contest while seeking insights into the issues, personalities and values at play, and any glimpses of what the candidates portend for US foreign policy — a reasonable venture on my part, given that the Arab world and wide portions of the Middle East and South Asia have been under non-stop American military attacks since the early 1980s.

The early 1980s was the pivotal moment in modern history when Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher teamed up to shift the Western economies, and their many global appendages, into a trajectory of unbridled free market capitalist systems in all walks of life.

My bottom line is that following the election has been exhilarating and depressing; really impressive and equally despicable things happened simultaneously, thus perfectly mirroring the broader complex nature of American society itself.

It was exhilarating because the US’ political system has just shown us what happens when the free market commercial system launched by Thatcher and Reagan nearly four decades ago converges with the entertainment values that have come to dominate the American public sphere in the same time span.

The truly open nature of the American system is a marvel to witness first hand, even though it often produces odd results and occasional criminals in office. 

The score and more of Republican candidates who vied for the nomination as of the summer of 2015 captured this vitality very nicely: men, women, Hispanics, Blacks, experienced former officials, politically clueless but flamboyant businesspeople and professionals, and assorted oddballs, all took advantage of the opportunity to present themselves to the citizenry as potential presidential candidates.

The same thing happened on the Democratic Party side, on a smaller scale, but with a much sharper focus on actual issues and policies to remedy deep cleavages that have fractured the American citizenry economically and emotionally.

There is much to criticise in the American political system, but its strengths remain what they have been since the system was designed by 18th century immigrants from Europe seeking greater liberty, self-rule and opportunities for personal development and fulfilment.

This is why people from across the world still seek to live in the United States, rather than in Russia, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia or other lands.

The negative, often clownish, and occasionally sinister aspects of the presidential race between two candidates that were widely disliked by the citizenry are ultimately offset by several other dimensions of American political authority — the tiered state and federal judicial courts system, a free press (controlled by commercial interests as it is almost everywhere in the world), a totally open civil society where citizens can organise, protest, mobilise and dance the Samba all night if they wish to make a political point, and regular elections every two years in which citizens can register their views and reward or punish their elected political leaders.

The emergence of Donald Trump and the serious run on the Democratic side by Bernie Sanders confirm once again that any American can throw his or her hat into the ring and advance into the political arena — and perhaps into office — if he/she mobilises effectively and responds to genuine sentiments among the citizenry.

The depressing side of the election reflects the process itself, which has been savaged by several dynamics: a combination of old-time insider political machinery that overrides the free will of the citizenry, and that Hillary Clinton used effectively to get the nomination; a serious lack of substantive discussions of policy issues that matter to voters, in favour of emotional sloganeering; embarrassingly outdated systems of primaries, caucuses and conventions that have either become political freak shows or simply enjoy wildly exaggerated influence on the process of choosing candidates; an ability to tap the dark, mean, fearful streak that runs through the hearts of many Americans and emerges into the political daylight in the form of racist attacks against immigrants, Muslims, Hispanics, Jews, refugees, African-Americans, women and others who can fight back because they have a say as voters in the final outcome; and, a ridiculous lack of serious discussions about the impact of the United States’ foreign policies.

I will not even mention the Middle East issues that should matter to Americans whose sons and daughters continue to kill and die in many wars there, because the foreign policy aspect of the election campaigns was little more than an extension of Saturday morning cartoon shows.

The ghosts of Reagan and Thatcher menacingly hang over the American political process, showing us what happens when money and entertainment prevail over all other values in public life. 

If a majority of Americans accepts this, then it becomes the law of the land. If they rebel against it, we should see some exciting years ahead, as citizens organise to save the fine core values of their now very distorted political system.