US: Why Did They Debate?
By Nilantha Ilangamuwa
23 October, 2012
Countercurrents.org
Do they really understand the shape of the earth? Do they think the earth has a pyramidal shape where the big man is sitting on the top while all the other countries are lying on the floor to lick the big man's feet? After watching the three debates between Governor Mr. Mitt Romney, who is the Republican presidential nominee, and Mr. Barack Obama, who is incumbent president of USA and the Democratic presidential nominee in the election 2012, it is unclear as to what is really going to change domestically or internationally.
In the last debate both of them sat together before Bob Schieffer, who claimed to be the most experienced broadcast reporter, confirming that both candidates are really unable to understand the depth of the problem that we are facing today. They narrowly escaped many times when they had to prove their uniqueness on foreign policy while showing greater concern about domestic consequences. In fact, both of them proved they were vociferous rather than connecting more deeply through serious political issues. It's laughable that they are wishing to lead the world while they do not have any idea about what is happening at ground level.
An engagement on foreign policy in the third debate was based on two core factors; one of them was Islamophobia and the other was Sino fear. Both of them took the same tone as former President George W. Bush Jr., the man who executed the last respect and dignity of the US in early 2000. The 9/11 attack was an event that the US political elites took advantage of, to get rid of their personal difficulties. The same strategy of using 9/11 as a pretext, as other tragic events are used by some other autocrats in various countries, is apparent. As a result of that political nightmare many countries lost their institutional structures, while facilitating authoritarians to cynically manipulate not only so called electoral system which is claimed to be a tablet for democracy but basic personal liberty of the people. The tragedies led to the elimination of the small space reserved for freedom, while human beings were technically put into a cage as nuisances. It seems that they are still engaged in giving consequences to the world due to what happened more than a decade ago while ignoring real threats that are injuring the earth.
It is very sad that both of them are too arrogant not to accept and apologize to the world for the unarmed civilians they killed in the name of fake democracy. It is commonly observed, that the US raised her flag only one time without bloodshed - that was on the moon. When questions were raised on the drone attacks, both of them were observed to be looking for a way to ignore the problem. The same reflections were visible when they were engaged in the crisis in Libya.
The present political game facilitates us to engage through popular political topics rather than digging deeper to find facts and root causes of the real crisis. That's why both Romney and Obama were striking on Iran's nuclear power while ignoring the nuclear capability that Israel has developed since they forced the world to accept the Montevideo convention, and while ignoring that Palestinians are also human beings. In other words, can you blame others as a threat to peace and democracy when your angel is threatening to eliminate the freedom and dignity of mankind? If you do so, then you are hiding something which is visible to entire world.
Our real loss over the last three decades is that the political elites have vandalized the structure of the institutions that were the pillars of the state. As a result of this, the judiciary, police, and legislature have become technically paralyzed institutions occupied by political party-based henchmen while ordinary people are losing their faith in the morality of the state. The norm of the state has been to take into custody by party based politics and corporate companies which are changing topics of the politics while hiding what we really need to achieve for the better.
The questions are remaining without successful answers; what did they debate and why did they debate. Who is going to control whom in this generation? Will the world duteously listen to the country which has national debt of over $15.17 trillion? As far as the politics in US is concerned, people are watching two people who seem to believe the same things lie through their teeth to get as many votes as they can. This reminds one of the Jerry Springer Show, which was a TV show in the 90s about cheating spouses who were ambushed on stage, and was just the trashiest show we've ever seen.
These policies will not lead us to find sustainable solutions to the crisis of the devastation of state institutions faced in many countries which are controlled by autocrats who came to power by cynical, manipulated elections.
Nilantha Ilangamuwa is journalist and editor of the Sri Lanka Guardian, an online daily news paper based in Colombo Sri Lanka. He can be reached at [email protected] or [email protected]
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