Now the US election seems to be hotting up much media attention is being devoted to it. If you want a clear description of what is happening, I recommend the BBC Podcast “Americast” which is available free on your phone or PC. But despite all this I feel many people in Britain do not understand how the American system works, and how it differs from ours.
Hilary Clinton achieved more votes that Trump in 2016, and Al Gore received more than George W Bush in 2000, but neither won the presidency. Why is this?
The American system in the 1700’s
To understand the American system, we need to go back to when the Constitution was written in 1787, shortly before the French Revolution. The idea of a Republic was current in intellectual circles following on from the ideas of Rousseau, but to understand the American version we need to look at what was happening at the time.
The Boston Tea Party, which sparked the rebellion occurred in 1773 when Americans refused to pay tax unless they had some representation in the British Government. What people perhaps do not always appreciate was that there was unrest in London in 1778, the Gordon Riots, with looting and burning, ostensibly due to an Act giving greater rights to Catholics. (Sound familiar?)
The people who wanted a Republic were largely middle class, both in America and France, and they certainly did not want rule by the mob. The Constitution was devised to have an indirect election for the President, not a simple majority. Sadly, it hasn’t prevented demagogues and populists, or stopped riots though.
In 1787 America only had 13 states on the Western seaboard. The Founding Fathers had another objective –to guarantee the rights of the individual states. The present system still does that.
The new republic tried to improve on the British system. As America had no aristocracy its equivalent of the House of Lords, the Senate, had two representatives from each state. There are now 100 members. The lower house, or House of Representatives, was elected by constituencies representing population, so big states had far more representatives than small ones. There are now 435 members. Overall, the Congress has 535 members. For legislation to pass both houses must agree, and this explains why the United States system is often gridlocked.
Electoral college
The president is chosen by an electoral college. The system is skewed towards small states. Most states mandate all their representatives in the College to vote the same way, depending on the majority in that state. In practice this gives power to a small number of “Swing States”. Pennsylvania is what we would call a “marginal”, so depending on the result all its representatives in the College will vote one way.
As a result, candidates will concentrate on the “Swing States” and also try to increase turnout which could influence the way a state votes.
I hope that was not too confusing. Other factors are in play too. American politics are very violent. Four presidents have been assassinated, and three shot but survived. America’s civil war is much more recent than ours, and tensions persist.
Previous American Presidents
Some Presidents have been people of real stature on the world stage and brought about big changes. People such as Lincoln, both Roosevelts, Woodrow Wilson, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Reagan and Obama. That makes us forget that there have been unsavoury characters who did not get elected, as well as a strong isolationist feeling in American politics.
Many Americans are descended from those who went to America in large numbers to escape persecution, such as Jews, Poles, Irishmen and Russians. They do not want to get mixed up in European conflicts again.
Before the last war there were Nazi sympathisers in America, such as the famous Aviator Charles Lindbergh, and it was only the direct attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese that finally brought America into the war. The current attitude of some Republicans to helping Ukraine has historical roots.
Donald Trump’s policies
Trump does not seem to have a clearly thought-out philosophy or history of involvement in a political party. He tends to latch on to causes which are already there, such as distrust of the “Washington Elite”, or a desire to isolate from the rest of the world. He appeals to those who feel “left behind” and believe the only solution is isolating from the rest of the world.
The current global surge of migration from poor to rich countries, which is due to climate change, political instability and global mass communications which paint an often-mythical picture of life in the West is an easy cause for him to latch onto, without proposing any practical solutions. His policies of expanding the economy through tax cuts have helped the rich rather than the poor, and a classical example of the failure of tarrifs to protect jobs are the American coal mines. Mechanisation has resulted in fewer not more jobs as coal prices increase.
Who does a policy of blaming immigrants and elites remind you of here? Donald Trump’s friend Nigel Farage of course. Donald Trump would not be someone America could be proud of on the World Stage, he could undermine the brave people of Ukraine, and cause inequality in his own country. Let us hope that despite the complexities of their system, the Americans have the good sense not to elect him.
