Mayhem In America On November 3…
The earliest American election I recall was in the fall of 1964 between Barry Goldwater from Arizona and Lyndon Johnson, who assumed the presidency after Kennedy’s assassination. I was attending the Talas American School for boys in Talas, Kayseri, where we had American instructors and administrators. Lyndon Johnson was from the Democratic Party representing the liberal wing of the party whereas Barry Goldwater was from the West, the state of Arizona sowing the seeds for the Republican conservatism which was borne by him and subsequently over the years burgeoned into an unmistakable Goliath that we experience now under Trump. Johnson advocated equal rights for all communities of the USA, reinforced with the anti-poverty programs for the poor and the underprivileged under the memorable slogan of the great society. Goldwater started the mantra which has been the playbook of the republicans since thus to diminish the government’s role in the society, reduce the taxes, protect individual rights in the most liberal sense of the word including citizens arming themselves and carry guns, etc. Our reading teacher Mr. Jealous was an ardent Democrat. Just at the time, we were also learning the periodic table in our chemistry classes, somehow the name Goldwater appealed to us because we could write with the new chemical symbols we learned of Au for gold and H2O for water and favored his election just for that reason. That infuriated Mr. Jealous because he was taking us seriously. Well, Johnson won the election with a landslide with over 60 percent of the votes. It was a resounding defeat, yet the seeds of conservatism at all costs were sown.
The next election I remember was between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. Heck, I was studying engineering in one of the excellent schools in the world and getting my Ph.D. Somehow Ronald Reagan, coming from California’s Hollywood starring in not so memorable films like Bedtime with Bonzo in his previous life, I did not think he was suitable for the highest office in the world. Besides, when he was the governor of California, he raised the taxes, shrank the education budget drastically, and promised to clean up the mess at Berkeley because at the time free speech movement was ignited right at the very campus I walked on. I favored Jimmy Carter, a nuclear engineer by training. Reagan won again in a landslide and ultimately became the most popular president in American history after Abraham Lincoln and FDR.
The American Supreme Court decided the 2000 election between Al Gore, the Democratic nominee, and George W Bush. It was not a landslide and took many days and a myriad of lawsuits to resolve. George W prevailed and became the president preferred not by the American people but by the Supreme Court. Florida has always been an aberration in the electoral elections and was the one who threw the monkey wrench into this peaceful transfer of power at this paragon of democracy called the USA. Maybe this was the omen of things to come.
Now in this election, I do not predict a smooth transfer of power. Heck Trump is on record that he is vehemently against the early balloting, which is a record so far, and he wants again the results to end up in the heavily conservative Supreme Court for the continuation of his presidency. November 3 will be chaotic; there will be fights at the balloting boxes and places, lots of skirmishes, mayhem, and tumult with much uncertainty going into November 4. In the following days, maybe weeks, confidence in the democratic and peaceful transfer will wane and we will hone eyes and ears to what the Supreme Court will do. If it gets to that point, the outcome will be in favor of Trump and the continuation of one of the worst presidencies ever for another 4 years. The pillars of this paragon, already cracked, will crumble, and not only our lungs will suffocate due to this pandemic, but our souls will too.
All I could wish for now is a landslide win by Biden.
