Sunday Politics: US Election

While to some of my readers this won't be relevant, I think the majority (by a small margin) are either US citizens or live in America, or obviously are both. Even to those who don't live in the USA or have any involvement with people who do, the impact and reach of the presidential elections (and those in House and Senate races) will still be keenly felt by us.

I noted in a previous blog in mid-September that I felt uninspired by the politics of the moment, and in particular by those of the presidential election. As with two any races that eventually come down to picking between two, you always feel that you are compromising - vote for the candidate with the least faults, despite their merits, and feeling that by making it into a simple tally that you are in turn compromising on their own faults.

The media and the parties don't help this trend, of course - casting a vote for either candidate is deemed a ringing endorsement of everything they stand for, when none is ever cast in such a manner. Nuanced critique is hard to come by in such an environment, and a criticism of the candidate you support is painted instead as a betrayal rather than a perspective - as if there are only two viewpoints and all others are sidelined.

With all that in mind, however, voting is still important - because it's the only hold that the public has over their politicians. What perhaps best applies here is the salient quotation attributed to Edmund Burke, 'The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." While only the most dramatic commentator (although there are plenty of those around of all colours) will cast this election in that light, the point is still that a failure to vote and have your imprint allows others to have their say at your expense.

I'm going to veer off this line for a moment to instead review some perspectives - points that won't have been raised in this election, but are relevant. In relation to other countries, education attainment is average, healthcare availability and healthcare for cost is poor, incarceration rates are absurdly high and - what should be most concerning in light of the 'American Dream' ethos - inequality is the greatest in the world while social mobility is amongst the lowest.

For a country that considers itself the foremost nation on earth, these should be shaming and their underlying problems challenged and debated. Little of that will occur - and while I don't think in this election either presidential candidate is going to work tirelessly to address these issues, there is still a distinction - that Obama will at the very least preserve the status quo, while the path put forward by Romney will exacerbate all of these issues. For that reason alone, I would only consider voting for Obama's reelection.

My reader(s) may disagree, of course - and while I wouldn't cast my vote as they would, I would remind them as above that it's still important for them to do so if they want to have their say.