USA: United States of Anxiety

The principles upon which the United States were founded – the freedom of religion and speech, of equality, opportunity and justice, all under democratic republican government – stand above all else. And although this great pledge has never truly been realized, the aspiration of such a nation is paramount to my political values.

In fact, I sleep beneath a copy of the Constitution on my wall and United States Flag blanket, a blatant exemplification of my devotion to such a cause. Yet, despite this passionate love for America, it is hard to not feel disheartened by the events and tone of the ongoing election cycle. What started as an outside candidate acting like an elderly relative at Thanksgiving, intermittently throwing incendiary remarks across the room, has morphed into legitimate and dangerous political force.

A candidacy built around a core of disillusioned, embittered, and politically misinformed lower-middle class citizens possesses all the hallmarks necessary to triumph; one need only examine the root causes of Brexit to perceive that. So I am eternally grateful for the unknown saviour at NBC for leaking Trump’s 2005 tape, without which Donald might well have remained more bumbling Boris Johnson than creepy Bill Cosby in the eyes of the average American.

It is hard to not feel disheartened by the events and tone of the ongoing election cycle

However, in spite of the imploding Republican candidacy – with even 57% of Trump supporters now expecting defeat on Nov 8 – I remain uneasy. The gut-wrenching fear of a Trump presidency that kept me up at night prior to the first debate, with both candidates tied in the polls and Trump seemingly resurgent, has returned.

Recent discourse reveals America is far from being in the clear from the insanity of Donald Trump. First, his election cycle, more than other previously, has exposed profound divisions and scarred the political landscape deeply. Whilst Democrats gleefully exploit the chaos of their opponents, seeing an opportunity to reclaim seats lost under Obama, they overlook the long-term harm such causes the future governability of America.

Unprecedented partisanship in the United States Congress has caused six years of stagnation in the Capitol. This is not the way back to the bipartisanship of my parents’ and grandparents’ days. Instead of using the weakened and divided Republican Party as a punching bag, deepening rifts across the aisle, I would like to see some outreach to the more reasonable Republicans.

Rumours are emerging of a Hillary-led rapprochement of old colleagues dissatisfied with Trump, probing possible cooperation during her administration. I sincerely hope that this is true, and that more Democrats seize this opportunity to restore functioning government to the United States.

Instead of using the weakened and divided Republican Party as a punching bag… I would like to see some outreach to the more reasonable Republicans

Most worrying though: that the outcome of the election might be dismissed. In the aftermath of the 2012 presidential election, Trump called for revolutionaries to march on Washington to overthrow the Obama administration and install Mitt Romney as recourse for an allegedly sham re-election.

Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed. Romney conceded, as befits a defeated candidate, and Trump hurriedly deleted the tweets. But in the current political climate, where the Republican nominee openly calls for the imprisonment of his political opponents and the resumption of the House Un-American Committee, such a repeated call to arms is not only possible, but perilous.

In the aftermath of the 2012 presidential election, Trump called for revolutionaries to march on Washington

America prides itself on its democratic institutions – we were the first modern republic, and first ever on such a scale – and took those first steps at a time when many European commentators scoffed at us, predicting an inevitable splintering and collapse. Even Plato contended for millennia that democracies unavoidably end at tyranny. That a major party candidate might threaten to undermine this heritage, and instead adopt the rhetoric of a failed state’s despot is staggering.