Alwaght- The just concluded elections in the United States brought to fore the simmering and popular discontent against the political establishment in the country.
While there have been regular protests against war and capitalism in the US over the last few years, during the presidential campaigns and the aftermath of Donald Trump’s victory the protests and slogans across the US point to growing popular dissent against the country's political system.
The current dissatisfaction with the US political system kicked off after the supporters of Barnie Sanders maintained he was rigged out at the Democratic Party primaries in favor of Hillary Clinton. Last week, WikiLeaks whistleblowing website claimed that the Democratic Party establishment conspired to ensure Clinton win the party’s presidential nomination.
Therefore, American voters did not have much of a choice, as they had to contend with a two-party system dictated by Wall Street. This year, voters had no option but to select one among the two most unpopular and polarizing candidates of the two major parties. During the heated political campaigns, in a surprising turn of events, it was the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump who tore down the US establishment by claiming it was corrupt and was planning to rig him out. The pronouncements by Trump compelled Republican leaders to combat the assertion that the elections were rigged. Back in August, Trump referred to the election as "absolutely being rigged by the dishonest and distorted media".
Trump was certainly right when he insisted system in the US is rigged and his ‘shock’ victory was certainly engineered by the political establishment to restore credibility in the country’s system by showing that even the one who blames the system for being rigged can indeed win the polls.
Trump, the Unpopular President
That explains why Trump lost the popular vote but is going to the White House courtesy of 290 Electoral College votes compared to Clinton’s 228. Clearly, the US president is not elected by the masses but by a clique of 538 electors who can be easily manipulated. Interestingly, Trump spoke out against the Electoral College system which has now guaranteed him a place in the White House. Following Mitt Romney’s loss in the 2012 election to Barack Obama, Trump wrote on Twitter: "The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy."
Not only did Trump loose the popular vote but even the total number of votes he received were a little more than a quarter of the voting-eligible population. Official data indicates that only about 56.9 percent of the voting-eligible population cast a ballot on Election Day. That means 43.1 percent of people eligible to vote did not cast their ballots.
The American masses, be they Republican or Democratic party followers, are not privy to the secret world of Washington’s corridors of power where the main decisions are made on who rules the country. They are indeed being used as pawns by the political oligarchs who depend on ‘elections’ to have some semblance of legitimacy.
While protestors, mostly Democrats, have taken to the streets to protest the voting results, Hillary Clinton called Republican candidate Donald Trump to concede the November 8 election. Both parties have accepted Trump as president-elect and buried the hatchet while the masses are out in the streets rioting. This points to popular disillusionment with the political system since despite Clinton conceding defeat, her supporters feel cheated.
End of the Empire Imminent
The popular discontent with the US political establishment is not just about riots and sloganeering, dissatisfied masses have taken action and are leaving in droves to settle permanently in neighboring Canada and other countries while some regions are out rightly calling for full independence. Canada’s immigration website repeatedly crashed as many American sought informations on permanent residency in the neighboring country.
There are several separatist movements in the US, but California’s call to secede from the US, popularly dubbed "Calexit," could signal the start of the inevitable decline of the American Empire and freedom for disenfranchised masses.
US Lacks Moral Authority to Lecture on Democracy
After the 2016 presidential elections fiasco and the post-election violence, the US lacks the moral authority to lecture other countries on the world on virtues of democracy. While democracy dictates respect for the minorities, this is exactly the opposite on the US.
Trump has ascended to the presidency based on the agenda of discriminating, bashing, insulting and fronting the outright expulsion, profiling and discrimination of immigrants, African American, Muslims and other minorities. The election of billionaire businessman Trump as president has confirmed to those still doubting that, the US is not a democracy but an oligarchy ruled by a circle of one percent who control the country’s wealth and have a stranglehold on the country's media and political system to the detriment of the dispossessed majority.
