The Conflicted States of America
September 15th is globally celebrated as the International Day of Democracy and 2024 would be remembered as the year of celebrating the cherished idea of self-rule which in the words of Albert Moravia boasts of two-way traffic. This feedback loop reorients and refurbishes thoughts and channelizes energy into a proper stream of actions.
2024 saw several elections, including India, the largest exercise ever and also Bangladesh that succumbed to its own nuances later. It also saw elections overturning popular expectations in Europe, ending a 17-year stint of the conservative party in the United Kingdom and also the ‘rubber stamp’ election of Putin in Russia. But as they say, the best is yet to come, the world is now steadfast and fixated towards the November zeitgeist also known as the American Presidential Election.
Historically, a once in a 4-year exercise the United States Presidential Election of 2024 is a different game altogether, with a sitting incumbent deciding not to run, historical precedent to be only found in 1968 when President Lyndon B Johnson decided to call it quits. An assassination attempt on a Presidential candidate and a former President of The United States is an idea unheard of at least in modern times. On its flipside, a female Vice President ascending to the top of the ticket and if polls are to be believed standing well within striking distance of victory is also a sight to behold. Coupled this with AI, misinformation, Silicon Valley oligarchs and their vested interests and you have the great American dream both in tatters and in full display of its diversity and grandeur.
George Washington famously remarked that ‘he’d want to create a nation where everyone can sit under the vine and fig tree without getting afraid’. The American experiment as he calls was in its true sense an experiment and for the fact that it had endured 248 years says a lot about it.
What made it endure so long?
The trifecta of institutions, economic superiority and sense of alienation yet superiority.; institutions, American democracy could withstand pressures because its institutions are strong and unbendable. Even at the height of his career, Nixon had to give in to Watergate, LBJ to Vietnam, Clinton to Lewinsky and Bush to wars. American institutions are built on the edifice of strength and loyalty to the constitution which in every few years is qualified by the American people. Not only this, the far-reaching reforms and the instances of bipartisan legislation and also putting a noose on an unchecked part of the government are also often done by institutions. Not long ago, amidst the cries of hang Mike Pence, the then Vice President presided over the session certifying the election where he lost.
The second is economic superiority, thanks to the wars and relative aloofness from destruction, America retained its economic wherewithal while the world burned. Coupled this with sound economic policies and a relatively open society attracted a lot of immigrants to the US where purely on the basis of innovation and incentive, individuals came and ‘became what they were capable of’ also made America prosperous in the process.
The third is geographical and cultural. Despite coming from different cultures, America was always envisioned as a melting pot where you put in your identities and become American. The relative sense of aloofness and ‘white majority’ demographics kept the cauldron stable. There were instances of violence but nothing precipitated in a crisis as the American institutions and economic superiority kept it stable.
What’s the conflict now?
The institutions that kept the American dream alive are now directly at risk. The courts are getting branded as weaponised by the ruling party, and the elected legislators spewing falsehoods and venomous rhetoric. An Ex-President openly claiming that he’d be a dictator for one day. The carefully crafted checks and balances are getting torn apart by the people who are supposed to protect them.
The economic superiority is also slowly weaning away. Thanks to the rise of China and globalization, the gains are slowly shifting sands and migrating out of America. Couple this with rising inflation and loss of jobs, it easily gives birth to the ‘problem of others where the blame is shifted to someone who doesn’t look like an American’
The racial and demographic shifts are also responsible for the ‘white man’ to deny itself of the superiority it had harboured on itself.
The United States right now is in a weird state of churn where old decrepit ideas are brought back to life and the new are slowly relenting their spaces. Not long ago on January 6th, 2021, the world proclaimed America to be The Ignited States as the ‘protestors’. While it recovered, the crevices are deep, dozing off the fire from the ignited states but portending it towards a conflict of historical proportions.
The election of 2024 is a testament to that conflict. What will happen and thereafter decides which way it will go. Whether it will stay united or become The Conflicted States of America.
