|
What difference is it
if the Democrat Al Gore wins or the Republican, George Bush ? None, for the
people of America, or elsewhere. But it matters somewhat, for the powerful
business lobbies backing one or the other candidate.
The present slinging
match for the Presidential seat, shows to what cheap levels the two candidates
can descend to, in their mania to grab the most powerful seat of power in the
world. In this closest election ever seen in US history, issues (if at all they
existed) have totally taken a back seat and the fight is in the law courts with
accusations of flawed ballot papers, ballots not given to voters and even
intimidation of voters, especially Blacks or the African Americans.
In the American
system it is not the popular vote that results in the victory of the President,
but that who gets the majority in the Electoral College. Voters cast ballots for
a total of 538 electors. The electors are distributed amongst the states
according to its size. So the larger states, like Washington, California,
Florida, etc., become important for victory as they have the largest number of
electors. At present, the disputed state of Florida has an Electoral College of
25 electors. The candidate who gets a majority in the state wins the entire
electoral college. So out of the 538 electors, with Gore having 260 and Bush at
249, any of the two who wins Florida, wins the Presidency. Though Gore has a
majority of the popular vote (a mere two lakhs out of a total of 97 million
votes) that is immaterial to the final results.
But what difference
does it really make ? It was the Republican Reagan, who initiated the ‘reforms’
in the US economy which brought bonanzas to big business and hit the poor hard.
It was in the Democrat Clinton’s era when this policy was taken to its extreme,
creating, on the one side hundreds of unbelievably wealthy billionaires, and on
the other side, cutting back on all existing social security. Both candidates
have been going out of their way to woo the Jewish votes, strongly backing the
Zionist Israel against the Arabs. While Bush’s father, as President, began the
Iraq war; it is Clinton who has not only continued it, but imposed ruthless
sanctions on Iraq resulting in the death of lakhs of Iraqis — mostly innocent
women and children. He has extended American aggression to the Balkans and
Kosovo. So, what is the difference between the two parties and the two
candidates?
Besides, the American
elections are an example of the most crude display of money power with lobbies
openly funding and backing candidates. These are also openly rewarded by the
victor. This time the combined expenditure on the presidential and congressional
election was a gigantic $4 billion (Rs. 18,000 crores) — which is double that
spent in the last elections in 1996. Also, a large section of the population is
defacto disenfranchised, as those with criminal records have no right to vote.
This particularly denies a large part of the Black population their basic right,
as about one-third have been implicated in some case or the other.
What was particularly
nauseating in these elections was the role of the so-called Indian Americans.
These NRIs who chiefly back the fascist BJP in India, and who cannot spare a
single paisa for the vast poverty stricken masses of our country, spent a
massive $10 million (Rs. 47 crores) on the presidential elections, and an
additional $1 million (Rs. 4.5 crores) to get Hillary Clinton elected to the
senate. These servile impostors, who pretend concern for India by promoting
Hindutva culture abroad, have become chief agents of US imperialism to promote
its policies within our country. To prove their loyalty to their foreign master,
they paid their presidential tribute!!
Though there is much media hype built
around the US presidential election, whoever wins, will result in little or no
change in US imperialist policy either at home or abroad. US imperialism, the
only existing super power, is the number one enemy of the world people; its
president, the chief criminal gangster in the imperialist camp.
1-12-2000
|
