IF OBAMA HAD DARED TRY THAT!

America is a flawed democracy, yet despite that it has operated as the "policeman of the world," supposedly trying to make democracy worldwide practice.

The lack of democracy in the USA did not arise with the recent Trump instigated attempted coup in that nation's capital which saw a handful of racist thugs invading their parliament. The fact is, in the USA, the majority has never necessarily ruled, although that is what democracy is all about. So, in 2000, George W. Bush 'won' against Al Gore although he only got 47.9% of the votes cast while Gore got 48.4%. In other words, Gore got the majority of the votes cast, resulting in over half million more votes than Bush, but Bush became President. 

The same situation occurred in 2016, only the disparity was much worse. For in those elections, Hilary Clinton got in excess of three million votes more than Trump, yet he ended up as president. No wonder the autocrat Trump can insist he should remain president in 2020, although he got almost eight million votes less than Biden!

Trump is nothing but a fascist, potential tin-pot dictator though, for from 2016, he has consistently declared that if he did not win the election, it would be because of corruption! And he came back with the same song and dance in 2020, and this time it became a crescendo since November 3rd, because he was rejected at the polls. 

Amusingly though, he quickly accepted the representatives in his own party, who got elected in the states he was disputing and under the same system he calls corrupt.

I think Trump is the most corrupt politician in the history of modern America.

In his very first term, he was impeached, though not removed, for trying to strong-arm Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, to come up with fake information on his opponent Joe Biden, for use in the 2020 election campaign. Then after he lost the popular vote in 2020, the electoral college votes, every challenge in the courts, he tried to strong arm the Secretary of State in Georgia to find him votes to overturn the results in that state and find him some votes so he could be declared the winner there.

When all that failed, as a last desperate attempt, he ordered his Vice President to lie about the number of votes he earned from the electoral college, despite the fact that the Vice President had no such power, as his job was basically ceremonial, going no further than declaring how many votes there were coming from each state.

So, like a modern-day Papa Doc (former Haitian dictator), he turned to his thugs, the Proud Boys, urging them to turn to violence. Those Proud Boys, are a far right group of white supremacists, who he told on the 29th, September 2020, to "Stand back and stand by." 

Well on the 6th January 2021, they were given the command by the president of the USA himself which led to the violent assault on Capitol Hill. When the smoke cleared, one female insurgent was found dead, a policeman was killed, four others died from other causes, many were injured and pipe bombs plus a car with explosives found nearby.

When this pathetic failed coup was met with national and international condemnation and Trump censored by Twitter and Facebook, the barefaced president in his typical self-serving fashion, threw his stupid supporters under the bus, declaring; "Those who violently besieged our Capitol are the opposite of everything this administration stands for."

What a scandal. In a civilized country, Trump as the instigator of the riots he belatedly pretended to condemn, would be arrested.

Anyway, despite the USA having a flawed democratic system, they do have strong and tested institutions, the most outstanding in this situation being the courts. For at every level, despite the fact that Trump had appointed the majority of the judges, they stood up for the constitution. 

 But back to the failed coup; I have to wonder if General Michael Flynn had still been in the army, if that attempt to violently overthrow the democratic system in the USA might not have succeeded in at least starting a civil war?  For using tactics like those of their hero Vladimir Putin, Flynn could probably have been able to mobilize enough troops under his command to do some meaningful damage. For he had even suggested after Trump lost the November 3 election, that he should declare martial law and rerun the elections in the states he lost under military supervision! Although since Trump consistently used bone spur as a medical excuse to avoid military duty and called soldiers suckers and losers, between the both of them, they probably couldn't find enough white racists to sacrifice their lives for that loser. 

 But who knows, for although he is clearly delusional, he found millions of even more delusional Americans to vote for him!

 But I am straying into conjecture.

What the attempted coup in Washington on the 6th January 2021 further exposed, is just how racist a society the USA is.

Can you imagine if President Obama had become stark staring mad and had dared to mobilize a mob to take over the capital city after his second term had ended and he was obliged to give up power? I guarantee that not only would a significant number of his supporters have been shot on sight, but Obama himself would most likely have been lynched and so would any other black man that the white racists encountered for days and probably weeks to come! 

Although the democracy in the USA is very flawed as it can make the will of the majority irrelevant, Trump and his mob ha now taken away the ability of the Americans to ever again try and lecture any other county in the world about democracy!

But maybe that's not such a bad thing is it?

https://youtu.be/xpk-DCCgYqI

Welcome 2021

2020 has been such a stressful year that I appreciate those who tried to make light of it with witty maxims. My personal favorite is "I did not enjoy 2020 so I am not adding it to my age." Wishing I didn't have to.

 In  truth however it is not the year that was bad but the pestilence of having a global pandemic which no one was prepared for. It took months before scientists could even begin to understand the make up of the beast, and during the interim they did send some conflicting messages to the public, many of which have created some confusion, even now.

In the interim, the death toll from the virus climbed astronomically and many hospitals worldwide became so overwhelmed that persons suffering from other chronic illnesses, had to be turned away as the virus became the main focus. 

If a group of professionals deserve the Nobel prize for science this year, it's the scientists worldwide, from Cuba and China to the USA and United Kingdom, who have developed several vaccines in under a year. This has never been done before in the history of the world, for the norm for such developments have been in excess of a decade. In fact, even now there are no vaccines for the Aids and Ebola diseases, so this tells you something.

But I stray.

Despite the fact that several vaccines are now available, even if we all get a share,  the world will not return to normalcy for probably years to come. For in interim,  the economic devastation worldwide will continue to wreak havoc on, especially the poor. That is the terrible load we have to find a way of coping with over the next few months.

According to ONE, a global movement which campaigns to end poverty worldwide "COVID-19 has presented many new social and economic challenges, and is exacerbating already existing ones. One such challenge is global poverty. Right now over 700 million people live in extreme poverty worldwide, which is defined as living on less than US$1.90 per person per day. Right now, the pandemic is threatening to push up to 115 million people (my emphasis) into poverty in 2020 alone." And I might add, even in the rich USA, food bank operators have been crying out for assistance as they have never had to cope with the demand for food as they have seen in recent months. 

If people in the USA are feeling it, what about people living in really poor countries? 

I feel it especially sad for the children, millions of whom today are not been able to get one solid hot meal each day and who if their brains are not being damaged, their ability to learn is certainly being stymied. For whereas children in the first world have computers and universal internet connection, our realities in Jamaica are no where close to that. Children also need inter-personal stimulation even more than adults and having to remain cooped up at home with adults, some of whom are abusive, has only added to the misery of many.

Another group of youngsters who have suffered substantially are those who have sacrificed greatly, putting in years of training to represent their countries at the Olympics, only to have their dreams disintegrate in the face of this terrible virus. Hopefully, even the mutation of this virus will not cause another postponement from July this year in Japan. 

Generally, right at home here in Jamaica, the economic clouds are gathering for there was already a 10% decrease in GDP in the last quarter. The greatest contributor to that has been of course the rapid and immediate decline in tourism industry. The reality therefore is that even with the vaccines (which we are grateful for) there will be no normal life for most of the people on this planet in the short run as governments cannot deliver on social services and infrastructure, due to empty coffers.

Of course, I am not at all proposing that we lie down and die, only that we recognize what we have to face in the new year and probably many years to come.

To add to the general misery people faced last year due to the virus was the fact that hundreds of thousands of families lost close friends and relatives, forever. I am grateful that I lost no one close to me this year, although two deaths really shook me to the core. The first was the untimely death of Chad Boseman, the star of Black Panther, a film that brought so much pride to people of color. He was so young, hard-working, talented and devoted to his profession. For although he must have been suffering terribly in the last few months, no one knew as he went about his work with courage and dedication. He also brought joy and comfort to children suffering from cancer, without even letting on about his own struggles. I really mourn his death.

The other passing that I personally felt, was that of Alex Trebek, who for decades, entertained and educated us as the host of Jeopardy. I will certainly miss his wit, knowledge and charm.

If there was any good news coming out of 2020, it was the fact that Americans came to their senses as they voted out Donald Trump. While I still consider it a mystery how they voted for him in the first place in 2016, the greater mystery is how come he increased his support in four years after such an erratic, hate-filled  and counterproductive  term. Yes, the man is clearly unstable, but what on earth would you call those millions who continue to support him.?

The fact is though, although those erratic hands no longer remain on a nuclear button, some seventy million racists still remain in the USA and many are heavily armed. That does not bode well for non- white citizens and visitors to the USA.

 Only time will tell how that will develop in the long run.