Keep the USA Great… Please!
HAVANA TIMES – It’s funny how every last bit of intelligent life is dissipating in the Trumpist ranks, once the reserves of decency are exhausted.
That a president of the United States spends days saying that it’s possible to commit fraud in all polling stations with the greatest ease, leaves that electoral process at the level of the Venezuelans. In no other country is it possible to introduce non-existent votes in each voting station or disappear those cast.
I have participated in several electoral days, sometimes as a proxy for a party, others as a table witness. I am talking about a nation that arrived to democracy much more than a century after the US.
There were personnel from each political party in each electoral college, observers, and police. The votes by mail are guarded by the police. They are opened at the end and counted by those in charge of the table. This takes place with the representatives of each party present. At the end of the count each proxy, witnesses, the president of the table sign and take a copy, and different official copies are signed and stamped.
Even so, it never stretches beyond midnight.
It is crazy that, in the age of the Internet and social networks, in the country that is supposed to be more developed, the vote count lasts several days. In addition, on top of that, there is the possibility of an accusation of fraud.
So what happens?
Are the votes counted by a chimpanzee with an abacus, a blunt pencil, and wet paper? No observers? Is it really murkier than in Venezuela?
All these questions are being opened by the clearly deposed president, with his latest outbursts of selfishness, of absolute pettiness, which lead him to not think about the Republican Party, families, the economy, health, or in the prestige of the United States.
One detail may be revealing. Biden was congratulated by the United Kingdom and France, founders of capitalism and the bourgeoisie respectively and current exponents of these.
Moreover, the UK is governed by the ideological line installed by the same guru Steve Bannon. Trump’s strongest allies not recognizing his defeat are China, Russia and AMLO’s Mexico, three universal exponents of the most marked anti-US rhetoric. Paradox or consequence?
Today a gap is opening between Republicans, in which they remind the egomaniac tycoon of his second proselytizing phrase: “Keep the USA Great”… please!
Not in vain the most remembered phrase every election night is that legendary one of Democratic strategist Dick Tuck: “The people have spoken… the bastards.”
As a response to each of the comments…Trump is an idiot! The American system of democracy was based upon the assumption that honor and dignity would prevail or at least be present in sufficient quantity to compensate for its inherent weaknesses. Trump has neither honor nor dignity, therefore he and his sycophants are taking full advantage. He is no better than the Castros in this regard and indeed worse in the aspect that we should have known better.
The level of any debate can only ever be raised by the introduction of a Rabbie Burns quote…..
Daniel Segal as obviously American, writes: “our world renowned free and fair elections”!
In response, may one enquire: “Where in the world did you get that idea?”
For a second time, I can in response, but quote Robert Burns: “Would the Lord the gift ha’e gi’e us, tae see oorsels as ithers see us.”
Daniel Segal,
You make very good points regarding the attacks on the U.S. democratic system and on the free press. I would humbly suggest that the U.S. democratic system needs a review as it’s looking a bit shaky and past it’s ‘use by date’. The electoral college system is truly wonderful in all its quirkinesses but it was surely designed for the needs of a long gone post-revolutionary era?
For me another grave issue is the worrying degree of legitimacy that has been accorded to right wing extremism. This type of extremism is boosted further when elected opposition politicians who are not of Anglo-Saxon or Christian heritage are advised by trump to ‘go home’.
Regarding being ‘rogue’ as you put it:
Other countries around the world would most definitely be using the term ‘rogue’ if they were referring to a different country, but they don’t because of the USA’s economic might and the belief that the page will be turned.
What trump and his cohorts are clearly trying to do is to stop the page from turning.
The biggest concern for me with our US election is this: we have a series of actions playing out in front of us, but each side sees the other side as damaging our democratic institutions. Each side claims the other side’s media outlets are fake and biased. Each side claims the actions of the other side are a threat to the safety of our people and our cities. Each side claims the other side’s politicians want to suppress, or somehow undo, the other side’s votes. Each side also accuses the other side of being un-American. But only one side has been trying to convince at least half the country that our world-renowned free and fair elections are a joke. How un-American can a president’s rhetoric get? We know the answer to that because he has been trying to neuter and destroy the free press for 4 years. I’m sure there is always a minuscule % of fraudulent or inaccurate votes, but not enough to overturn the outcome in 4 or 5 states. I know presidents can be upset by negative press coverage, and yes, some coverage may be biased. But for a president to attack the free press and free elections…two of our holiest secular shrines…if we observed this behavior in another country’s leader, we’d consider it rogue.
Interesting article from Martin and interesting comment from Mr MacD.
As I have mentioned before, I would never regard democracy as something a country either has or doesn’t have. It’s a sliding scale. It’s a question of degrees. Some places have more democracy than others.
I’ve been in Cuba during elections. To participate, according to the government, is to carry out your democratic duty. There are many who would suggest that Cuban-style elections do not make Cuba a ‘democracy’.
There has been much mention in the USA recently about the strength of it’s ‘democracy’ (especially by Democrat Party folk!). On the other hand many would say that if there ain’t no independent judiciary, then there ain’t no democracy worth the name.
I recall a previous disputed U.S. election not so long ago – The Republican party (who got less votes than the opposition) were awarded the win simply because there were more Republicans in the Supreme Court at the time.
In the U.K. we are often (self?)regarded as the ‘Mother of all Parliaments’ and a great democracy. There has actually been an electoral system where every man and woman gets to vote regardless of their wealth or poverty for just 92 years.
There are people still alive who remember this being introduced!
Currently, the most powerful individual in the UK, who gives the puppet-leader his orders, has never been a member of any political party and has never been voted for by anybody ever. Although he does have a lot of very powerful buddies in Russia!!
Democratic processes are imperfect. In most cases there is much room for improvement. Little spoilt-brat-trump has no real interest in the damage he is doing to the state of U.S. Democracy or the ever increasing division he is provoking across the nation. He only ever gives a sh*t about himself.
Maybe they’re gonna have to drag him out of that old white house………?
Or maybe, like Emperor Nero, he will try and make a break for it at some point?
Although that didn’t have a very happy ending for old Nero did it?
As one who has been an official observer at the count in a national election, I can agree with much of Martin Guevara’s description of process. But unlike that which he described, determining the final result took until 2.30 in the morning on the day following the election, at midnight a lot of counting work still awaited.
Studying the faces of the various political party representatives as the count proceeded, was quite revealing – especially those representing a government moving towards defeat.
However, being a truly democratic country, no police were present, unlike the process described by Martin, which one assumes was in Spain, which has only experienced democracy for a fairly brief period. Everything proceeded in a calm courteous manner although the Marijuana Party representative was not permitted to smoke.
One can but agree with the observations about the process and subsequent law suits in the 2020 US election, best described as a shambles. How were the writer’s of the US Constitution over two hundred years ago, to anticipate the machinations and manipulations of a frustrated narcissistic potential autocrat having been the loser, facing eviction from the White House?
“The world’s leading democracy.” ?