US Election Result: The Majority Lost
Published in RIA Novosti
(Russia) on 9 November 2020
by Viktoria Nikiforova (link to original)
(Russia) on 9 November 2020
by Viktoria Nikiforova (link to original)
Translated from
by Tyler Combs.
Edited by Helaine Schweitzer.
Joe Biden has been elected president of the United States. However, no matter whom the bizarre U.S. election system chooses as president, more than half of all Americans will oppose the choice. It’s simple math.
Some 66.9% of Americans voted in the election. Though the votes are still being counted, it’s clear that about half of them chose Biden, the other half Donald Trump. A third of Americans didn’t go to the polls at all. About 80 million voters chose not to participate in the democratic process.
Nonvoters in the U.S. have drawn the attention of sociologists. Polls have shown that between 33% and 65% of citizens regularly ignore elections. In other years, up to 100 million Americans have chosen not to exercise their constitutional right to vote. In conversation with sociologists, these people admit they don’t trust political propaganda, don’t think their vote matters, and generally believe that the system is dishonest.
The 2020 election proves them right. It’s not just because of the unheard of level of anti-Trump propaganda and attempts to suppress the president and his supporters. Senate and House elections took place alongside the presidential election. As always, the majority of seats in the country’s highest legislative bodies were won by the absolutely unreplaceable elite. These include mayors and governors from good families who have served in their posts for decades, and congressmen and senators who have served many terms. This elderly “Politburo” includes both parties.
The winner in Kentucky, 78-year-old Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, has been in the Senate since 1985. The winner in Illinois, 76-year-old Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin has served since 1996. Today’s Senate includes centenarians whose terms run 40 to 45 years.
The picture is the same in the House, where 80-year-old Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been in office since 1987 and has long been a symbol of stagnation. Republican John Young, 87, has represented Alaska since 1973.
In a country that promotes regime change around the world, including change through military force, the same people hold power for decades. Of course, Americans can't help but see this.
Those who don’t want to vote also admit that they don’t trust the media and prefer not to read the news. Given the intense hysteria in the media, this choice appears to reflect good old American sanity.
Most American youth between 18 and 24 also avoid elections. They can hardly be interested in a showdown between two “senile old men,” as the tabloids called Biden and Trump.
In general, Americans who don’t vote are disappointed in the entire two-party system. Life has steadily deteriorated for most of them for a quarter of a century. The middle class has grown poorer, young people are mired in student debt, and households are accumulating cosmic amounts of debt, regardless of whether a Democrat or Republican has been in the White House.
George W. Bush succeeded Bill Clinton, and Trump succeeded Barack Obama, but the policy of both parties remains the same: trillions in defense spending, senseless wars abroad, job losses, uncontrolled health care prices, pay cuts due to inflation. Naturally, the political choice of many Americans has become “plague on both your houses.”
Trump managed to do something for the average American during his term, but he could not reverse the trend. The pandemic, lockdowns and race riots put an end to his efforts. The 2020 election was held during a time of unprecedented unemployment, a health crisis, and a complete absence of prospects. There are 10,000 bankruptcies a day, and the wait for free food in the Bronx lasts hours.
The frustration of Americans who refuse to participate in elections reflects the country’s general decline. “It is this despair that is killing us. It eats into the social fabric, rupturing social bonds, and manifests itself in an array of self-destructive and aggressive pathologies,” writes renowned journalist Chris Hedges on the pro-democracy platform Salon.com.
The decorative, imitative nature of American democracy has never been more clearly revealed than in the last election. No matter the bizarre performances in American political life – fireworks, riots, scandals – behind the scene was a slow and unstoppable decline. Its victims were the vast majority of Americans.
When the votes are counted, the losing candidate’s supporters will be just as angry and alarmed as nonvoters. Together, they will become an enraged and disenfranchised majority whose hatred will be directed at the winner of the election. Whether it’s Biden or Trump, neither can do anything about this tsunami. The majority of the country will hate the new president. This is the main result of the American election.
Some 66.9% of Americans voted in the election. Though the votes are still being counted, it’s clear that about half of them chose Biden, the other half Donald Trump. A third of Americans didn’t go to the polls at all. About 80 million voters chose not to participate in the democratic process.
Nonvoters in the U.S. have drawn the attention of sociologists. Polls have shown that between 33% and 65% of citizens regularly ignore elections. In other years, up to 100 million Americans have chosen not to exercise their constitutional right to vote. In conversation with sociologists, these people admit they don’t trust political propaganda, don’t think their vote matters, and generally believe that the system is dishonest.
The 2020 election proves them right. It’s not just because of the unheard of level of anti-Trump propaganda and attempts to suppress the president and his supporters. Senate and House elections took place alongside the presidential election. As always, the majority of seats in the country’s highest legislative bodies were won by the absolutely unreplaceable elite. These include mayors and governors from good families who have served in their posts for decades, and congressmen and senators who have served many terms. This elderly “Politburo” includes both parties.
The winner in Kentucky, 78-year-old Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, has been in the Senate since 1985. The winner in Illinois, 76-year-old Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin has served since 1996. Today’s Senate includes centenarians whose terms run 40 to 45 years.
The picture is the same in the House, where 80-year-old Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been in office since 1987 and has long been a symbol of stagnation. Republican John Young, 87, has represented Alaska since 1973.
In a country that promotes regime change around the world, including change through military force, the same people hold power for decades. Of course, Americans can't help but see this.
Those who don’t want to vote also admit that they don’t trust the media and prefer not to read the news. Given the intense hysteria in the media, this choice appears to reflect good old American sanity.
Most American youth between 18 and 24 also avoid elections. They can hardly be interested in a showdown between two “senile old men,” as the tabloids called Biden and Trump.
In general, Americans who don’t vote are disappointed in the entire two-party system. Life has steadily deteriorated for most of them for a quarter of a century. The middle class has grown poorer, young people are mired in student debt, and households are accumulating cosmic amounts of debt, regardless of whether a Democrat or Republican has been in the White House.
George W. Bush succeeded Bill Clinton, and Trump succeeded Barack Obama, but the policy of both parties remains the same: trillions in defense spending, senseless wars abroad, job losses, uncontrolled health care prices, pay cuts due to inflation. Naturally, the political choice of many Americans has become “plague on both your houses.”
Trump managed to do something for the average American during his term, but he could not reverse the trend. The pandemic, lockdowns and race riots put an end to his efforts. The 2020 election was held during a time of unprecedented unemployment, a health crisis, and a complete absence of prospects. There are 10,000 bankruptcies a day, and the wait for free food in the Bronx lasts hours.
The frustration of Americans who refuse to participate in elections reflects the country’s general decline. “It is this despair that is killing us. It eats into the social fabric, rupturing social bonds, and manifests itself in an array of self-destructive and aggressive pathologies,” writes renowned journalist Chris Hedges on the pro-democracy platform Salon.com.
The decorative, imitative nature of American democracy has never been more clearly revealed than in the last election. No matter the bizarre performances in American political life – fireworks, riots, scandals – behind the scene was a slow and unstoppable decline. Its victims were the vast majority of Americans.
When the votes are counted, the losing candidate’s supporters will be just as angry and alarmed as nonvoters. Together, they will become an enraged and disenfranchised majority whose hatred will be directed at the winner of the election. Whether it’s Biden or Trump, neither can do anything about this tsunami. The majority of the country will hate the new president. This is the main result of the American election.
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