Observing American politics from our side of the Atlantic has never lacked mocking condescension. We consider the language of the circus: It talks about clowns, spectacles and cowboys’ proposals, concluding that, over here, we wouldn’t see debates as deplorable as this, with unlimited rabble-rousing… right?
Yes it’s true. Trump promised to erect a wall to stop migrants from entering the United States. But is there anything to laugh about and to lecture the Americans on when Europe is also letting insurmountable barriers be erected against migrants and refugees fleeing war, leaving them vulnerable to trafficking, the cold and death?
Is David Cameron any different from the Republican candidates when the former has washed his hands of the situation in Calais and the latter refuse to welcome refugees from Iraq and Syria? Aren’t they all consequences of their acts of war?
Should we really laugh about the Republican debates when they build up their hate for Islam, without thinking about Le Pen, Orban and others?
Should we really laugh at Trump’s sexist witticisms when everyday French politicians laugh publicly at their dirty jokes on the radio or in the lower chamber of parliament? Is it only in the United States that millionaires and their heirs get involved in politics? No. And only company heads who indulge in bending the rules to make a profit?
Trump wants to sell us the right to bear arms to prevent another Bataclan, so can we think that this will be just as effective when it comes to preventing an attack than the deprivation of citizenship?
When Trump calls for a boycott of Apple, which refuses to disclose the ways of cracking its phones’ security codes, what should we say about the French politicians who are willing to go as far as banning iPhones in France in order to force them to obey our laws?
The next time we feel like laughing at a Republican debate, or at one of Trump’s propositions, let’s take a look in the mirror first.
I am a registered voter in Rhode Island, USA, very much on the left- a critical supporter of ” socialist ” Democrat Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
And yet I have concluded that Republican conservative and presidential candidate Donald Trump is the victim of hypocritical smear campaign orchestrated by the GOP establishment.
Where in his past was Donald Trump ever linked with KKK type bigotry incompatible with national celebrity ?
And has the GOP establishment suddenly gone soft on neo-liberal political correctness ? No more xenophobia, Islamophobia, homophobia tolerated in their country clubs ?
No, only the pristine purity of right wing crackpot Ayn Rand and her ” Virtue of Selfishness “.
Must I remind these born again Christians that Ayn Rand was also a militant atheist and a fierce Zionist ( she thought the Palestinians inferior to the Jewish settlers ) ?
Hillary Clinton attacks Donald Trump while herself pandering to race, gender, and sexual orientation. And as Secretary of State she was guided by the virtue of ” more love and kindness ” ?
A lot of political nonsense in America is the direct result of decades of dulled class consciousness . Our ” democracy ” is so very bourgeois. Our foreign policy is all about making the world safe for the ONE PERCENT. But the capitalist news calls this the ” war on terrorism ” . Indeed, the New Colonialism is endless.
But any hint of Hitler is unacceptable -even at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq ? A while back they bombed the Doctors Without Borders trauma hospital in Afghanistan – these preachers of ” more love and kindness “.
United Nations officials called it a war crime.
[ http://radicalrons.blogspot.com]
We, the governed of the Western democracies have not been vigilant. Only around half of us (less in the US) get to the polls, and once we’ve cast our votes, we go home and watch Reality TV or a hockey game. A small percentage of us is all that bothers to read what little investigative journalism is still being published these days – and those who can’t be bothered are easy targets of the lies and propaganda pedalled by many of our political candidates. Why should they do otherwise when voters find all the important stuff “too wonkish” and tune it out.
Global warming is at least 35 years old – at least, the early 1980s was when sufficient science was available to provide politicians and voters with a highly credible warning, which we ignored; and the fossil fuel industry with incentive to start diversifying, and instead they focused their energy on inventing the propaganda that has led many of us to embrace denial. Where was our democratic power back then? Watching the never-ending playoffs. Where are we now? Well on the road of planetary destruction. Our children and grandchildren will spit on our graves.
The Donald Trumps and the Marie Le Pens are the legacy of our democratic sloth.