What is conspicuous is that neither of the candidates are seriously debating the foreign policy and immigration policies of the US in the coming years.
by N.S.Venkataraman
Every Presidential election in the USA in the past has been marked by bitter criticisms , allegations and provocative debates. Therefore, it is not a surprise that the ongoing campaign for the next US President is also being marked by such a climate of bitter confrontation between the two candidates.
However, in the past elections, the neutral voters ( those who are not pledged followers of Democratic party or Republican party ) have not remained so confused and uncertain as in the case of the present Presidential election.
One Presidential candidate is 74 year old and the other candidate is 77 year old. With their ageing flesh and consequent possibility of slowing down their thought process, many voters wonder as to why a younger person has not been chosen as Presidential candidate by either of the party.
The role of the section of the print and visual media in taking sides between the two candidates and expressing more views than news Is also confusing the voters. There seem to be sections of the media who are bitterly opposed to President Trump and are suspected to be prejudiced in the choice of the news published and sometimes even censoring the news which amount to distorting facts. With sections of the media losing credibility to some extent, many voters have started thinking that the views and comments of the media can not be considered as credible factors for arriving at a judgement about one candidate or the other.
What is even worse is the fact that racism has become a much debated point while talking about the choice of candidate for voting. It is now said that most of the “blacks” will not vote for Republican party and the section of “whites” will not vote for Democratic party and the “browns” will be divided in voting for the Democratic party or Republican party. Of course, Democratic party naming an African American candidate for Vice Presidency can not be faulted. But, why argue that the race of the candidate should be a decisive factor in the choice of the next President ?
Though everyone in the USA understands that COVID 19 caught the US government unaware with no medicine available, with the US government and people helplessly seeing thousands of people dying due to COVID 19 , both the candidates should be honest enough not to make the COVID 19 an issue in the Presidential campaign. Certainly, Trump was helpless and any other person including Biden could not have handled the situation better. It is known that in the USA, the governors of the provinces have enormous powers and no US President can compel a Governor to act in a particular manner in handling the COVID 19 crisis. The ground reality is that no one had any clue about handling the COVID 19 crisis.
What is conspicuous is that neither of the candidates are seriously debating the foreign policy and immigration policies of the US in the coming years.
China is a big issue in the election campaign with the ongoing U S China trade war. Again, there is lack of clarity, since a large number of American companies have huge investment in China and have gone to China with their technologies to set up projects, which has benefited technology advancement in China significantly. Certainly, it is a fact that American companies have made China a strong competitor for the USA , both in the USA and other parts of the world.
While trade war may continue between USA and China, the impact could be only limited, since several American, West European, Japanese, South Korean and Taiwanese companies are not in a position to pull back from China in the foreseeable future , in view of the heavy investments made. While both the candidates say that China has to be tackled strongly by the US government, there is no deep and informed debate as to how it could be done in the future.
With regard to the immigrants in the USA, the fact remains that thousands of immigrants in the USA from across the world are illegal immigrants and the US government does not know their whereabouts.
While many US citizens feel that immigrants have taken away their jobs from their hands in the USA, the fact is that the companies in the USA want the immigrants for employment due to the comparative low pay structure and are outsourcing the jobs, promoting unemployment in the US.
U S universities want immigrant students in a big way , as they are a big source of funds for US universities. Many immigrant students do not want to go back and want to stay in the USA by getting citizenship. What would be the long term impact of the increasing percentage of immigrants in the USA on the social and cultural life of the future USA has not been analysed or discussed by both the candidates.
All that the US voters hear now is the slang match between both the candidates, bordering more on hate speeches than intellectual and well informed discussions.
In such circumstances, US citizens, uncommitted to either of the party, seem to be thinking that there should have been a third candidate and voting for either of the present candidates would be a choice between a devil and deep sea for them.
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