American Elections are Complex and Mud-Throwing

November 3, 2016

By Saeed Qureshi

American presidential elections take a year to come to conclusion. During the first tier that lasts for months, the contenders within a party try to prove and establish their legitimacy and excellence to be nominated as the party nominee against the other parties in the field. These are competitions with in party.  As the trend of elections spawned over two hundred years, the respective parties choose the winner to face his or her rival from the opposition party.

Although there have been candidates from smaller parties and even independents yet the whole longish exercise boils down to the two rivals between the Democratic and Republican parties. In the 2016 presidential elections Donald Trump is the nominee of the Republican Party while Hillary Clinton represents the Democratic Party. The 2016 elections would close on November 8.

So far so good. The conflict or rigmarole that ensues thereafter in a kind of game to hurl all kinds of blames, accusations, mocking and labeling the rival as wicked or satanic who if elected would heap ruins on the United States. The trading of filthy innuendoes and character assassination of the rival is distasteful yet it is a part of the election culture of the United States.

In the current elections to elect the 45^th president of the United States, the two competitors Madam Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have been completely exposed as to what irksome and wrong doings they might have pursued in the past. It looks like a dirty water pond where all are nude and throwing mud on each other.

The dictum or the laid-down rule of respecting females had been colossally trampled by Donlad Trump by calling Hillary as a nasty woman. On the other hand, a dozen or so women have accused Donald of dishonoring them or for making sexual advances. It is indeed a very serious offense but it was not taken into consideration for a probe.
 
Ordinarily in America, if a commoner touches a woman with or without her consent and she goes to the court, a hell would be broken on the offender and he can become a pariah for all time to come or for the time period that the court decrees. The attorneys play up the charges to prove the culprit fiendish and a threat to the society and debarred from social interaction or mingling freely within the society.
   
The latest and sudden announcement of FBI Director Comey ten days before the final day of elections has been devastating for Hillary’s undisputed march towards the victory. The announcement seems to be motivated against Hillary and favorable to her opponent. The solid achievements of Hillary seem to be stymied and could even turn the tide in favor of Donald Trump.

At the same time, it is clear that the American voters can be easily swayed by one odd development that might be lacking in truth. There is a changing trend of voters in swing states after the uncalled-for announcement of Director Comey. The people seem to have forgotten about the murky past of Donald Trump and what venomous attributes have been dished out by Donald about the minorities and immigrants.

Weighting the merits and demerits of both the contenders, it is clear that Donald cannot prove to be a president of all the Americans whether natives or immigrants. Visibly by his statements he appears to be freak. He has a sordid backlog of indecent interactions with women. He has denigrated so many women publicly including a woman journalist. He has been avoiding payment of federal taxes and making money by devious and underhand methods.
 
The unpredictability of the elections can be gauged in the closing days that one statement of FBI Director Comey alters or subverts the results of the elections. The intrusion of a government servant and his dropping a bombshell on the political arena has patently influenced the elections in favor of Donald and against Hillary. Spending of millions of dollars by both sides, heating debates and marathon campaigning for a year have been rendered useless.

How by one statement the people have forgotten such gross violations of Donlad as non-payment of federal taxes and leading a wayward life.  The entire focus of the peoples has shifted from misdeeds of Donlad to the Hillary’s emails which basically had no bearing on the overall policies of the state.

If Donald, per his commitment expels a portion of the immigrants out of country and if he selectively chooses the friends and foes to reward one side and punish the other, then it would be impinging upon the undisputed role of United States as a world leader.

My perception is that the anti- immigrants and anti- Muslims slogans raised by Donald are merely a ploy to catch the majority of the white votes which form 74 % of the American population. He may not be able to build a wall between Mexico and America. He might not be able to push the undocumented workers out of America. He might even antagonize many countries because of personal whims. The Islamic world might turn away if he translates his anti-Muslims pledges both within United States and across the world.
Yet it is the choice of the people of the United States to elect a new president irrespective of who deserves and who doesn’t. The people’s verdict is the final one and that is central to the American political system including the culture of elections.