So today, voters in the United States of America go to the polls in their general elections. A contest between two of the least likable or worthy people I have ever come across, to think that either candidate is the most talented or worthy person in a nation of over 300 million people is entirely laughable, doubly so after the most expensive and length campaign in the world. We hate our politicians in the UK too of course but at least our elections take just a month and cost less than the New Hampshire primary. It goes without saying that anyone as Trump as Trump would never get a look in, nor would anyone as mired in scandal as Hilary.
So we’re told that we are approaching armageddon if Trump wins but a huge piece of me doesn’t care less and that little bit that does in a mischevious kind of way wonders what it would be like. After all, we in the U.K. are waiting WW3, we were told this would be the case should we vote for Brexit and frustratingly for anyone with end of the world tendancies, this has yet to happen.
I just don’t think one person can do that much damage or indeed that much good. At either ends of the polictical spectrum and indeed many would say, competency levels, we all got through George Bush Jnr (well most of us outside of Iraq and Afghanistan) and for all his supposed good intentions, I can’t find Obama as anything other than a disappointment. A fine orator but little else, neutered by the American political system as indeed would Trump and Clinton be.
You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else. Sir Winston Churchill
Elections just don’t seem to make that much of a difference any more. I genuinely think that the world or at least our part of it needs one last/more war or revolution to get things to where they need to be. Nearly 5 months after our Brexit vote, nothing has changed here. Partly as no-one knows what to do but also because except perhaps The Queen, few in the halls of power and even less in the all controlling big-business wants to do anything that might make their lives a little more difficult or less profitable, regardless of what the people say.
Europe is falling apart or perhaps more accurately collapsing from within. Again here, no changes have been made since the Brexit vote, the peoples of Europe desperately wanting change but the elites refusing to listen with no proposals of change whatsoever to the European Union. To the east and a resurgent Russia, resergent only in the minds of the dictator Putin. Another country that had monumental changes 25 years ago with Perestroika and now back in exactly the same situation as it was before, only worse as their economy is now even more broken and with a huge birthrate problem. Putin may want everyone to be afraid of Russia but it seems that no-one wants to have babies there. Not surprising as every penny of money there seems to go to the military.
Despite the huge anger in Europe of Brexit, it seems they still expect us to make the second biggest security steps after the USA, all ready to vainly fight a Russian invasion. Not at all hypocrictical!! Britain itself is under attack apparently, from Russian cyberhackers with reports that everything from our Kettles to Fridges might be utilised in furure wars. Even our televisions apparently… look what happened to mine last friday!
https://www.facebook.com/stephen.liddell.75/videos/717167095103285/
All of that almost pales into insignificance by all the changes to the worlds climate and environment. In a phenomena known as the Sixth Extinction, the world is changing in a terrible way, quicker than any of the previous five mass-extinctions and they included obliteration my asteroids. Now it is just because of people poisoning the air, destroying the flaura and fauna and filling the sea with non-degradeable plastic.
I remember at school at the end of the 1970’s and early 80’s learning about global warming and the destruction of the environment but it seems half the world still doesn’t believe and many of those who do, don’t care enough to do anything. Why else would animals such as the fantastic White Rhino which again was under threat when I was a boy, now all but extinct and all because ignorant people in China think the Rhino horn will help with procreation, as if there weren’t enough people there all ready… maybe all the rhino horns should have gone to Russia.
It was partially many years of terrible drought that caused the Arab Spring, that and the unquestioned support of murderous dictators by the West. How much of the huge mass-migration problem facing Europe is down to climate change which is mostly but not entirely not the fault of Africa combined with huge unsustainable population growths which are almost entirely are the fault of Africa.
In the worst case scenarios, this would only be the beginning as the climate change is only now beginning to properly kick-in. It could be that in the future, the world becomes much more closed-off and isolated as only the strongest can fight to keep a veneer of civilisation and comfortable living. Indeed in that most intractible of situations between Israel and the Palestinians, one side has already taken steps to control the precious water and most of it isn’t theirs to take! Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia have all nearly come to blows over water, Turkey and Iraq might yet and Chechnya wasn’t allowed independence for no other reason than it might cause ideas amonst oil rich parts of Russia… places that have been Russian for all of a century or so.
It’s not wrong for desperate people to try and escape and make a better life for themselves just as it isn’t wrong for others to want to help but not at the expense of spooling their own lives or countries.
With all the millions being killed in places such as Syria, it is hard to see how the American election can really make that much difference one way or the other. It does seem though that no matter how many some might hate to admit it, big business and globalisation has made many rich and many comparatively poorer. People in Africa want to come to Europe, people in Mexico want to come to the USA. Neither area particularly wants them and both are scared to admit that actually, the system doesn’t quite work for everyone.
Winston Churchill saw both sides of the problem, he once remarked that the problem with democracy is clear after spending 5 minutes with any prospective voter but then he also remarked that Democracy is the worst option apart from all the others.
Maybe that is why Trump wants to build his wall, why Putin wants to divert everyones attention with how bad things are by invading countries, why Europe is falling apart, why Britain is Brexiting and why political groups in Scotland and other places want to divide already small countries as the elites refuse to listen to the people they supposedly represent and people retreat into core nations, regions and even tribes as they pull up the draw bridge in response to a mixture of fear, opportunism and even racism.
So given all that, I just don’t really care and i will just sit out the next few days before the campaigning starts for the 2020 election.
Having pretty much alientated every country, including my own with this blog post it is probably time to wrap things up. I don’t much care who wins today election as I already hate the victor, when I wake up either the second worst candidate in history will be the President elect or someone worse will be. As that great American Mark Twain once put it… if voting changed anything then they would ban it. On the other hand in all the very worst countries, they have banned it.
Stephen Liddell 
It’s so tragic to see such vast amounts of resources poured into the shitter in the name of hope for something that doesn’t even exist?
If all the campaigning were done on PBS, then no one would even notice the Kardashians weren’t the royal family of America!
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That’s definitely true. I have a feeling the Kardashians wouldn’t be happy with the election result but the fact that anyone cares about them at all is just one sign of what is wrong with things. Thanks for commenting 🙂
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Thank you for the last couple of lines, I agree! And democracy can be very aggravating. But otherwise I believe your post is a perfect distillation of the opinions of today’s popular culture. There is so much more depth and nuance needed to understand why these talking points are incorrect, but it takes herculean effort. As the Italians say, “Approfondimento, per piacere!!”
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I’m glad that at least you found something worthwhile at the end of my post! I’d be very happy to go into more detail for my position but I fear I bore enough people I meet in person without doing so to the wider-world! Thanks for your comments!
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Great post! Love it! I became so fed up of reading the latest opinion or shared nonsense from friends on facebook about how much they hate Trump (and by extension love Clinton) that I have stopped using facebook for a while. They are not even American and actually believe that one is better than the other.
I just find it incredibly sad that a country which claims to be the leader of the free world and seems conceited enough to believe that they are the greatest country in the world cannot offer up any better candidates nor indeed a method of electing that doesn’t involve such an inordinate waste of money or crazy media circus. The American people do not have a choice really…bad vs bad…you are right, it really makes no difference. The lack of genuine policy discussion is prevalent in politics everywhere but surely tackling the huge issues of racism and guns has to be a main priority in the USA…mind you…Brexit seems to have allowed a form of racism to become more socially acceptable in the UK…it is just embarrassing how we allow ourselves to be called civilised at times.
We are all manipulated constantly by what we are presented with as “news”. I recently saw Putin give a speech on TV during an ice hockey game in Russia and I was amazed to think that I had never heard him talk before and the people seemed to respond incredibly well to him. It occurred to me that my perception of him is undoubtedly influenced by the way in which he is presented, but equally, the Russians may well live in fear of Putin. I have no idea..but that doesn’t mean I should accept what I am told as fact.
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I’m glad you enjoyed it. Yes, I found it very similar in Facebook too. I felt the same during Brexit too. Whilst I still wouldn’t have voted for Trump, I’m not at all surprised because the alternative candidate was so uninspiring and pretty much part of the problem. Picking the least bad option isn’t good enough and it will be up to the parties and people in future to sort things out. When someone like Hilary is so much part of the establishment and in the pockets of business and media then she isn’t what people who are hard on their luck need so no-one should be surprised that someone else won, even if he is offensive in many ways. Kind of similar to Brexit, if parties on all sides don’t appear to listen to the people then no-one should be surprised when the unthinkable happens… that’s the what happens when smaller concessions earlier were ignored.
As you say, its wrong to think any country is the greatest and that particular political system is probably the worst I know of in the free world. It’s true also that none of them had real policies, well Trump had his famous one. In European politics, you know what people will enact, the media and people wouldn’t let it be any other way. I know what the positions are of different political parties in Germany, France, Greece, Australia etc but only very vague and often nonsensical ones from the USA from both sides. With Obama even most Republicans I’ve had on my tours have admitted he is a great orator and can inspire people but Hilary didn’t inspire anyone. Rather like John Major who ran his campaign by saying to vote for him only because Tony Blair was going to ruin the country…. it’s never a good tactic to insult voters or say you are best solely because the other guy is even worse.
You’re right about Putin and how so much of our perception is based on others. Perhaps everyone is just a shade of grey and Putin may be darker than many but nevertheless our views are shaped by grey people too, even if supposedly better. I do remember having a Russian Airbnb guest stay with me and we were on a walk and she said how everyone there hates Putin but is scared to speak out so I shouted out loud “I hate Putin” and she tried to shush me up so I told her that here we can hate anyone we liked. She looked round two or three times and shouted “I hate Putin”.
I have a feeling that in a few months time, America will have changed just as much as Britain has after Brexit, which is not very much at all. I do agree with you about the subtle racism here though. People should be here either legally or not at all but once here, that should be the end of it.
Thanks so much for your comments, I hope my reply makes sense as WordPress only gives a 4 line window on my reply so I may not be making sense!!
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Makes perfect sense. Great sub-post as a comment too. Love the bit about the Russian shouting. I just can’t imagine what it must be like to live in such a place or conditions.
I just hope at everyone can stop with all of the hatred and divisive behaviour that seems so widespread at present…and who knows…maybe Trump might just be the catalyst to approach things in a different way instead of same old same old.
You never know, you might be voting Branson at the next UK election! 😄
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a very good rant – you hit the nail on the head with those choices.
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Thanks Maureen. The morning after, I see half the planet is panicking but I am maintaining, my carefree state! It’s all very minor in the bigger scheme of things.
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Historically, Europe (and by extension European North America) have always been to world civilization much what the Orkneys are to Greater Britain. Until the discovery of oil. Internal combustion engines and oil managed to give the west enormous leverage and power over world affairs that it never possessed outright before. This era is rapidly drawing to a close and it is quite likely we are returning to something more akin to a historical status quo. Unfortunately, our handling of power during this period has fallen very short of the mark. Non too sophisticated and marked by unrestrained violence would pretty much sum it up. I suspect we will have to do some adapting to a whole new cultural approach to world affairs as defined by people who are not ‘us’ and represent the majority of the world’s population. Given the state of things, maybe non too soon either.
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I absolutely agree with you though I’d put the Western era as starting a bit earlier. In the long run of history though, civilisation has been centred around the Middle-East, India, China and other Asian countries. They had the best art, learning, literature, civilisations and best societies to live in too. America is now going through what Britain and to a lesser extent Europe went through in the mid 20th century. It’s only natural going by the size of the populations that China and India and other places will take the lead. Just as much of the world has been ‘contaminated’ by fast food or diet coke then in 100 years we may very well have our own culture with strong Asian and indeed African elements too.
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Well said!!!
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Thanks Francis. It all seems so obvious for me but none of those with vested interests in power and big business seem to care which is no doubt why for good or bad, Hilary lost. The progressive and positive candidate has to actually be progressive and positive otherwise what’s the point. I found this election to really be 2 sides of the same coin. I hope your home and friends came through unscathed in the recent Italian earthquake 😦
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This election has been rough, I admit it. Neither candidate is great, but luckily the campaigning for the next election will start in a few days, we will be hard pressed to find two less deserving candidates though.
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Yes, I would likely settle for any American commentators on my post to be better choices than either candidate this time. I am doing likewise, just writing off the next few years. I wrote off my entire childhood due to Margaret Thatcher lol
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After the earlier collapse of the USSR, America as the only superpower had a free hand and went berserk. Basically we are still savages, the thirst for land, power and gold(oil) will never be satisfied whoever gets a chance. Tell me what has changed since Europe colonized Asia and South America. That role is now in the hands of the superpower and this is now being challenged by Russia. America is needlessly probing; trying to provoke China and roping in allies for the purpose.Despite efforts by President Obama, nothing much changed even for the African Americans who are being shot with impunity on the streets. I don’t think it matters who is the President, the policy is guided elsewhere and the White House merely supervises.
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I entirely agree Mohammad, thank you for your comments. I think very little has changed in the last 100 years, only some of those involved in suppression and greed have changed. I totally agree about President Obama and like yourself don’t think it really matters who is technically in charge but is really just a figurehead. As always, it is largely up to individual people to make the best of things and to change the world for the better if only in very small ways in terms with our dealings with each other or in non-military and exploitative dreams as happened in the last century or two with science, medicine and technology. I’m sure that the inventors of penicillin, solar power or the world wide web changed more lives for the better than any world leader. It is almost as if we live and progress irregardless of our politicians.
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