Skip to main content

US Electorates and Public Sphere


US Electorates and Public Sphere


Dr. Craig L. Dicker-the department of Public affairs US embassy, New Delhi visited Christ University to speak on the US electoral process with special reference to 2016 presidential elections. This session was held in Christ University, Bengaluru on 2 August 2016, by the Department of International studies and History
Dr Craig began with quoting the Indian Express’ article which said that the candidate who has secured the majority in the opinion polls 2 weeks after nominations would eventually win the elections. From the article written in The Hindu “it can be seen that Mrs. Clinton is leading 2%.”  We have to wait for the November 8th to see if this holds on.
Explaining the electoral process, he divided the districts into democratic strong holds, republican strong holds and flip sates. Ohio, Florida, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Virginia were considered as major flip states whose vote bank plays a major role in deciding the president of United States. Emphasizing on 2016 elections where there is a close competition between Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton, he has opined that south districts have more republican inclination where there is more white domination which favors the latter.
Speaking about the electoral reforms, it was said that it is very difficult in United States to bring in actual reforms as vested interest groups counter them by saying that any restrictions on individuals and groups would oppose the freedom of individual. The latter opinion was substantiated by showing the unsuccessful “Federal election campaign amendment (1974)” and “McClain Feingold attempt” in curbing the extensive use of money for the election campaign. Even though there has been a cap on the spending of the Political action committees (PAC), Super PACs take their roles with unlimited access to the spending on campaigns. While these are not officially associated with any of the political parties or political leaders, there can be seen an obvious understanding.
The old trend where campaign funding is done by the capitalists has been changed from 2004 presidential elections. The new player in the campaigning is – The Internet. The social media has been playing a major role in the election campaign where individuals take up the task of the latter. In 2004 there were 3 million people on the list of Mr. George W. Bush’s mail and in 2008 it has been increased to 13 million on Mr. Obama’s mail. There is also increase in the online individual donations which can be seen in this 2016 elections where one of the major contributions for Mr. Bernie Sanders’ campaign while Barack Obama was the first to use this online funding.
In this presidential elections the interesting change in the mindset of young Americans can be observed. People of age group below 30 mostly support Mr. Sanders and the reason for this has been attributed as worry of employment and Xenophobia. The stand of both presidential candidates is not supportive towards the “Trans Pacific Partnership” which is due to the public pressure. He said that may be in the coming 40 years there may come an acquitable change in the health care system to which Obama care is a small step forward. This shows the shift in the mindset of people which is moving away from the pure capitalism. When it comes to foreign policy of United States, he has stated that bureaucracy has a high influence. This can be seen in Henry Kissinger’s book “World restore”.
When it comes to the dilemma of Indo-US relations after the 2016 elections, he opined that it would not change no matter who wins the elections and said that the present Modi- Obama relationship status quo will be maintained. 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Prime minister and the expectations

Prime minister and the expectations On Aug 15, 2014 Shree Narender Modi, prime minister of India was a different person and now exactly after one year i.e., on Aug 15, 2015 he is a different person again. This is stated by people all over the country. An article tiled "From outsider to insider" published in Times of India says that the law of diminishing marginal utility has set in. But don't think it is actually law of ascending marginal utility? People started to expect more year by year. Lets say from 2014-15, there are significant changes in the way government operates and people have begun to think, there is a swift shift in the prioritizes of the government from just fulfilling needs to development. So people began to expect more and immediate changes which are not exactly possible. I t is irony that people expect overnight change, want immediate comforts rather than aiming for development which serves greater good. Le...
Post a Comment
Read more

Arab world instability

It all started in 18th century, where whole world was full of fiefdoms and serfdoms (with some exceptions). Europe rose in its military technology and their thirst for capitalist power has made them to conquer the whole world and establish their imperialism. For the luxury of few, they have exploited many as if it was a legitimate thing to do. The want for economic and political supremacy made European nations to fight against each other which culminated with world wars. These wars resulted in the emergence of new nation-states, which actually should have carved through Woodrow Wilson's 14 point theory but ironically not. Along with this the decolonization has sculptured countries with disputed borders. There formed countries with true reasons and strong leadership and some without reasons and ineffective leadership. The best example is the south Asia where partisan of Pakistan was totally unnecessary if it was not for the idiotic Islamic groups. Even the breaking of ottoman emp...
2 comments
Read more

Urbanisation in Medieval Europe

Urbanization – Medieval Europe The growth of trade and commerce in the medieval Europe has given birth to the urbanization which lead to the growth of towns and cities. Urbanization is nothing but growing cities with luxury and the latter can be linked to the then play of politics with city centers as core. Dukes and kings used to show off their wealth in public with the help of city states, to gain their trust and to ambassadors to make them sure about their alliances. This attitude is not only restricted to the kings but to the other elite class of the society. With the growth of cities feudal lords of country side have decided to make their presence felt by constructing residences in the cities. This lead to the growth of architecture in the towns and cities and huge allocation of funds for the construction is seen in the medieval Europe. Coming to the city planning, They were constructed with an architect plan with the roads cutting at 90 degrees and the markets placed al...
Post a Comment
Read more