Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1309486
15 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 15 NOVEMBER 2020 NEWS own swing districts like Gozo and locali- ties like St Paul's Bay, Mosta, Valletta and Siggiewi. 4. Culture wars are more important in the US, but Malta is catching up In the absence of class politics, culture wars have become crucial in defining political identities, with Republicans in- creasingly associated with religious con- servatism, anti-immigrant sentiment, upholding the constitutional right to bear arms and a roll-back of reproductive rights. On the other hand Democrats are increasingly associated with more liberal values, gun control, reproductive rights and a more inclusive society. In Malta La- bour has become more homoge- neous on social liberties, losing its conservative wing repre- sented by the likes of Adrian Vassallo in a similar way that the Democrats had shed their racist southern constituencies represented till the 1970s by the likes of George Wal- lace. But culture wars still exacerbate the di- vide between l i b e r a l s and con- s e r v - atives in the PN, where MPs like Edwin Vassallo could easily find themselves at home in Trumpland. Calls by civil society to lift abortion restrictions may well exac- erbate these tensions. But while Labour has become more like the US democrats in its socially liberal orientation, it has also been more hawkish on immigration and more supportive of the hunting and developers' lobbies, which may be the Maltese equivalents of the National Rifle Association in the USA. Coupled with a more bullish leadership style characteris- tic of Labour leaders, this makes Maltese Labour harder to pigeonhole in a US-style dichotomy. Differences 1. Malta has en- shrined majority rule, the USA has not In 2016 Trump won the Electoral College without winning the popular vote. He came close to repeating the same feat last week. While the elector- al system was always different, in pre-1987 Malta it was the number of seats elected in individual districts which determined the result of elections, with counting of- ten lasting days and results being decided by a handful of votes. But while the Mal- tese enshrined majority rule following a perverse result in 1981, the USA is more reluctant to correct this anomaly, which is rooted in an elaborate system of checks and balances devised by the founding fa- thers in the late 18th century to protect state rights and prevent a devolution to monarchy. US voters also tend to balance the power of the presidency by electing rival major- ities in Congress and Senate. So while the electoral college essentially guarantees that the winner takes all the votes from any state won, after being elected the Pres- ident's ability to carry out reforms often depends on his ability to negotiate with the other side, something which became more difficult as polarisation increased. On the other hand it is only under pres- sure from European institutions, follow- ing the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, that Malta is taking steps to cur- tail the powers of the Prime Minister and limit the winner-takes-all mentality. 2. Malta is more left-leaning than the US Although Maltese parties are less keen on identifying with class politics, free healthcare and welfare are universally ac- cepted in Maltese politics. On the other hand advocating a health system similar to Malta's is perceived as radically left- wing in the US. 3. US parties have vocal 'ideological' mi- norities Traditionally, while Democrats had a conservative 'blue dog' wing which voted for Ronald Reagan's tax cuts in the 1980s, Republicans had a liberal wing led by people like John Mc Cain who support- ed gun control and immigration reform. But while the Republican Party was trans- formed in a more conservative direction first by the 'tea party' insurgency and than by Trump, the Democratic Party has evolved in to a more formal coalition of liberal democrats represented by the likes of Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and a social democratic wing associated with Bernie Sanders and the "squad" – a group of congress women led by Alexandria Ocasio Cortez which have injected a dose of class politics in US pol- itics. Factional warfare in Maltese politi- cal parties-as was recently the case in the PN- tends to revolve around personalities rather than ideologies. But while Labour is more inclined to follow the leader's line, the Nationalist Party tends to be less def- erential to its leaders. 4. Ethnic minorities are less of a factor in Malta The US is not ethnically homogeneous and includes different minorities, which are more inclined to support the Demo- crats. In contrast, despite the increase in the number of foreign workers and resi- dents in Malta, most of them lack political representation and are largely ignored by political parties. lican democracy once endorsed by the GOP, not only veered to the right and away from the party of Lincoln, but al- so has been entirely discarded. Trump's reactionary stance reinforced the kind of anti-politics that was seeded back in the McCarthy era, and which many have mistakenly thought was dead and bur- ied. With Trump enjoying a strong grip on the GOP with 70 million votes in his fa- vour, the situation with American poli- tics is that the left-right game can only be played within the Democratic Party, where liberal and social democrats act as surrogates for mainstream politics. This explains why many Republicans voted for the Biden-Harris ticket, even when they were still inclined to vote in Republican senators and representatives at Federal and State level. If we are to compare this to the Mal- tese context (which is only problematic in that one could still argue that the PL and PN, though tribal, are both orbit- ing at the centre), we could look at the American context as a warning for the future. This is because in Maltese pol- itics we already sense strong elements of anti-political rhetoric redounding in moments where, for example, PL and PN leaders feel themselves cornered. Good examples are immigration, COVID-19, women's rights, fertility and parent- hood, where Malta is not short of its own "Trumpian" anti-political moments. More so, the fact that during the US elections, there has been a bizarrely in- ordinate sympathy towards Trump (ac- companied by a degree of disdain towards Biden) in both the Labour and National- ist base, is a sign of danger which, unless the PL and PN are not careful, this an- ti-political narrative could well take over and do them a lot of harm. The pitfalls of polarisation Prof. Roderick Pace – academic spe- cialising in European integration and political science In politics competition is healthy but tribal polarisation is not. It dis- sipates energy and resources. There is no neat separation between the two spheres. Po- larisation is most evident when mutual trust among competing forces falls to the lowest levels. Polarisation has become a visible phenomenon in most democracies and it is difficult to nail it down to one cause. The social media are in my opinion a facilitator not the cause of polarization. Some political leaders remain the main cause of polarisation because of their tendency to spit out words casually on the social media without much care about their truth and consequences. The worse among them sow unwarranted di- visions, impute bad motives on their op- ponents and obstruct calm debate. The media have a tendency to report and multiply their divisive words. Some social media are beginning to censor politicians when they lie. The cure for polarisation is trust. Leaders need to promote that which unites and mutual respect for these is the only pathways to healthy societies. Constitutions, laws and sturdy democratic institutions with embedded checks and balances are im- portant to keep rogue politicians in check. Institutions need to be imbued with what is called the "Ulyss- es Constraints", namely those mechanisms which as much as possible prevent politicians from making corrupt choices even when they are hell bent on making them. The other safeguard is a return to true repub- lican values, which means more than just replacing the queen by a president. Which brings me to the last firewall against polarisation: ordinary citizens who want to be free individuals, able to think for themselves and not allow the party to think for them. It is perhaps when they become the bigger part of so- ciety that polarization can be laid to rest.