How America Chooses its Leaders: What Brazilians Need to Know
July 3rd, 2008
By WILLIAM KERN
As anyone who regularly visits the Moderate Voice or WORLDMEETS.US knows by now, the world’s attention is riveted on the U.S. election campaign. And in every nation, different lessons - some of them cautionary - are being drawn.
Writing for Brazil’s Estadao, Lourdes Sola explains why American election campaigns - particularly this one - create so much emotion in the ‘other three corners of the world’ and how the way Americans choose their leaders proves the resiliency and health of U.S. democracy. Sola then outlines the lessons that people in other nations, particularly Brazilians, should glean from the U.S. presidential race.
Examining how the candidates, Obama and McCain, were selected, Sola writes:
“American democracy shows the enormous capacity of institutions to absorb and filter change in society without resulting challenges to the law. The dispute in the Democratic Party between ‘a woman’ and ‘a Black,’ leads to an institutional question: Why and by what mechanisms were Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama chosen as the most competitive electoral candidates? The same question can be posed about the nomination of John McCain since it also reflects a shift in the value system of the Republican Party on immigration, the environment and secularism. Taken together, this is a “change in season” in the sphere of politics and reflects a profound transformation in that society’s system of values and criteria for political legitimacy.”
Outlining a lesson for other nations in all of this given our fast-changing world, Sola writes:
“Societies today are exposed to global processes of political interaction and a dissemination of values over which nations and party leaders have little control. Apart from changes in the axis of global power and the role of the major emerging countries, it is the force and vitality of American democratic institutions - and not its economy - that the election campaign brings to the fore of the international debate. Confronting the successive “shocks of reality” to which U.S. society has been subject - from the losses associated with the war in Iraq to the subprime crisis - the process of regenerating American social life has begun in the political realm rather than through any particular policies. This will now play out in the contest between Obama vs. McCain.”
By Lourdes Sola*
Translated By Brandi Miller
July 2, 2008
Brazil - Estadao - Original Article (Portuguese)
The electoral campaign in the United States raises a question that warrants several answers, all of them valid. Why do American elections stir up so much emotion with people here and in the other three corners of the world?
Two unprecedented changes draw the attention of the observer. First of all, the interest is global, entails strong emotion and is generally viewed positively. Therefore, the many forms of anti-Americanism that the Iraq War has exacerbated have been turned inside out. On the other hand, similarities among the various forms of “anti-Americanism” in different regions and nations show the unprecedented nature of the campaign. Reactions vary not only depending on the ideology and interests of those doing the talking, but also from where they are from. If one examines reactions to the campaign systematically rather than from a single angle, one is better able to understand the prevailing reaction [to the U.S. election], “on this inconsequential side of the world,” as [Argentine writer] Jorge Luis Borges would put it . In this regard, two questions arise. What does this electoral cycle reveal about the quality of American representative democracy? And what reflections does it inspire about the quality of our own?
American democracy shows the enormous capacity of institutions to absorb and filter change in society without resulting challenges to the law. The dispute in the Democratic Party between “a woman” and “a Black,” leads to an institutional question: Why and by what mechanisms were Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama chosen as the most competitive electoral candidates? The same question can be posed about the nomination of John McCain since it also reflects a shift in the value system of the Republican Party on immigration, the environment and secularism. Taken together, this is a “change in season” in the sphere of politics and reflects a profound transformation in that society’s system of values and criteria for political legitimacy. The international impact of this will be significant because the United States is still a dominant player and because we live in the information age.
READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, along with continuing translated foreign press coverage of the U.S. election.
This entry was posted on Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 at 2:57 pm and is filed under You Tube, Foreign Policy, Black/African-American, Bush Administration, Political Philosophy, Anti-Americanism, Democracy, Cartoons, Newspapers, Republican Party, Surrogates, Leadership, Iraq War, Primaries, Newsweek Blogitics, Voting, Pro-Democracy Movements, Foreign Politics, Elections, Economy, Political Cartoons, War, Congress, 2008 Elections, History, Money/Finance, Politics, Iraq, Latin America (Central/South), Barack Obama, John McCain, Social Commentary, Cartoon Commentary, Hillary Clinton, Minorities, Democrats, Business. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Add New Comment
Thanks. Your comment is awaiting approval by a moderator.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Add New Comment
Trackbacks