The US Republican and Democratic Party national conventions are over. Donald Trump and Joe
Biden are the official presidential nominees for the two parties. In their acceptance speeches they
define this election as a good versus evil, us versus them vision. The stage is set for one of the most dramatic, polarized, and divided elections in recent American history. If the election were held today polls suggest Joe Biden would win. But there are still two months until the November 3, election. The end result is not certain. It will be only a handful of voters in a few states that will decide the election. All this shows how divided America is.
Joe Biden and Donald Trump closed their respective party conventions with the acceptance speeches. These speeches defined their campaign themes and visions for America. For both candidates, the central theme was defining the choice in polarizing terms, painting the other side as evil. For Biden, his most memorable description of Trump and the election was to declare:
America is at an inflection point. A time of real peril, but of extraordinary possibilities. We can choose the path of becoming angrier, less hopeful, and more divided. A path of shadow and suspicion. Or we can choose a different path, and together, take this chance to heal, to be reborn, to unite. A path of hope and light. This is a life-changing election that will determine America's future for a very long time. Character is on the ballot. Compassion is on the ballot. Decency, science, democracy. They are all on the ballot. Who we are as a nation. What we stand for. And, most importantly, who we want to be. That's all on the ballot. And the choice could not be clearer.
Similarly, Trump stated of Biden and the election that:
At no time before have voters faced a clearer choice between the parties, two visions, two philosophies or two agendas. This election will decide whether we save the American dream or whether we allow a socialist agenda to demolish our cherished destiny...And this election will decide whether we will defend the American way of life or whether we will allow a radical movement to completely dismantle and destroy it.
The two speeches were more similar in ways than few recognized. Both invoked God, light, and goodness for their side, casting the other as evil, dark, and destructive. Both sides invoked fear of the other. Both defined the choice as all or nothing, a battle for the soul of America. They gave a speech that was short in emphasizing policy proposals and specifics, a speech that aimed more to divide than unite –despite claims to the contrary–and a speech that was aimed mostly at their political bases, with hope that the few remaining swing voters would not vote for the opponent. The speeches demonstrated the American divide and the difficulty of reconciliation after the voting is done.
Yes, there were critical differences in the two speeches. Trump lied more than Biden, or at least destroyed the facts more than the latter. Biden sought to speak to a far more diverse base of voters that included young people, people of color, urban, college-educated, and especially suburban women. These voters are more divided than Trump’s, the latter of whom are mostly white, male, older, rural, and lacking a college education. Biden’s supporters are less motivated to vote for him than Trump’s supporters are for their candidate. Biden’s supporters see in George Floyd and the pandemic the need to address racial justice and health care, for Trump’s base it is the need for law and order and to close the borders to protect the country against immigrants and foreign influence.
In short, Biden and Trump gave the speeches both wanted and needed to deliver. Both needed to motivate their bases and mostly did that. Biden needs the swing voters and reached out to them, Trump less needs them to vote for them than not vote for Biden. Both in their tales of two Americas set the stage for what promises to be a very close election in the electoral college. The election will be won or lost by the movement of a few voters in just seven states–Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin–where a few voters will decide whom they are afraid of most and which vision of America they accept.
“America is at an inflection point” I think you are referring to the United States of America. America, North and South, are continents. Canadians are North Americans, Brazilians are South Americans along with all the other peoples inhabiting the American Continents. We are all Americans. That being said, I think the Inflexion point is well past, but as you point out much can be learned about the electorate by observing how they vote.
ReplyDeleteForty years ago Milton Friedman wrote “Free To Choose” where he made the argument that material prosperity is correlated to personal and economic freedom. He pointed out that Equality of Result is at the opposite end of the continuum from Personal Liberty. You cannot increase Equality without decreasing Personal Freedom and vise versa. (See Chapter Five of his book) While Trump is not a Friedman (small l) libertarian by any stretch of the imagination, he is the preferred choice for those who value personal liberty to Biden, the newly minted Socialist.
Every society has a choice to follow one of two roads which go in opposite directions. The first road is wide and smooth and has a sign above that says, “To Safe, Easy, and Egalitarian.” It is traveled by the cowards, the lazy, and irresponsible and leads to the spiritual, economic, and moral bankruptcy of Venezuela, Cuba, and North Korea. The other path is narrow, difficult, and dangerous and many will stumble and some will fall. It leads to material prosperity, peace, and personal fulfillment. To travel this path requires courage, acceptance of personal responsibility, and a sense of tolerance and cooperation. I am interested in which path the people of the United States will choose.