Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1516411
OK, let me get this straight. The United States of Ameri- ca has a population of rough- ly 340,000,000: which is not even all that large, when com- pared to other Continent-sized land-masses like India and China (both topping 1.4 bil- lion)… or even Europe (which is home to over half-a-billion, despite being a fraction of the USA's size). But still: 360 million remains a pretty impressive head- count, for what is ultimately a single, self-contained country. And top of the sheer number of Americans who actually inhabit it: the USA must also rank as one of the most ethni- cally, culturally, and politically diverse nations, of the entire planet. Nowhere is this diversity more plainly visible, than dur- ing election years. Right now – nine months from the next US election - American news- papers are awash with stories of how Joe Biden and Donald Trump are desperately trying to reach out to all that coun- try's untold millions of dis- enfranchised, unrepresented (and at all other times, forgot- ten) 'minority demographics'. African Americans; Ita- lo-Americans; Hispanic Americans; American Jews; American Muslims; American Catholics; American Pastafari- ans; American members of the Inter-Galactic Jedi Council… you name the ethnic/religious denomination, and it will cer- tainly exist, somewhere within the fabric of the USA's social landscape. And that's just the start. Each of those communities will be further subdivided into any number of (as a rule, deeply po- larised) factions: 'conservative' versus 'liberal'; 'pro-life' versus 'pro-choice'; 'gun-lobbyists' versus 'gun-control activists'; 'fans of Megadeth' versus 'fans of Slayer'… the permutations are practically endless. Ah, but when it comes to GOVERNING this incredibly rich tapestry of ethnic, cultur- al, and ideological diversity… how many parties actually step forward, to take on the chal- lenge? Two. That's right, folks! Just like tiny Malta – with its mea- sly (and much less varied) pop- ulation of just half-a-million – the United States of Amer- ica has locked itself up into a 'bipartisan' political system: which reduces every American election into a simple, binary choice between the same old Republican and Democratic Parties… … which, in turn, only field one (1) candidate apiece, for the all-important job of 'Pres- ident of the USA'. But wait, there's more. Un- like other bipartisan systems elsewhere in the world (our own included) – where the two parties may resemble each oth- er in some respects, but dis- tinguish themselves in others – there is, let's face it, precious little difference between the USA's Republican and Demo- cratic Parties, when it comes to the policies/ideologies they actually support. And until recently, anyway: there's been even less differ- ence between the Presidents they've ever actually produced. With only one exception (Ba- rack Obama) every US Presi- dent to date has belonged to the same general ethnic group- ing; they have all been male; and in most cases, they all even went to same old Ivy League colleges (not to mention sup- port the same old baseball teams, etc.) Simply put, the American po- litical system has – with the occasional hiccup, here and there – produced nothing but 'clones' of the same general Presidential model…. a model which seems designed to rep- resent nobody at all, in the en- tire country (except, perhaps, the same old 'clique' of elitist oligarchs, who invented it to begin with). Erm… sorry, but how a sys- tem like that even work, in practice? How can such a vast panoply of different, and often conflicting viewpoints, pos- sibly be accommodated by a choice of only two (2) possi- ble modes of administration (which, for reasons already ex- plained, always tend to morph into 'only one')? The short answer, I suppose, is that… it DOESN'T 'work in practice', at all! Indeed, it may even explain the enduring pop- ularity of at least one of today's candidates: Donald Trump, the Republican contender who (whatever his other faults) is very clearly NOT a 'clone of the same old Presidential mod- el'; and very clearly does NOT represent the same old inter- ests, of the same old 'clique', that is now so utterly terrified of him… But, oh well. I guess I'll leave that digression for another day. For while America's 340 million inhabitants may have been short-changed, by a po- litical system that straitjackets their country into the same old policy-direction, every single time… they do at least have a 'choice' of sorts to make, every four years. And that's already a heck of a lot more than we can say for ourselves, here in (equally di- verse, but much more popu- lous) Europe. Right: let's take a step back, and look at the European Un- ion through the same lens we just used for America. Natural- ly, I won't bore you with a full list of ALL the ethnic/cultural/ religious/political demograph- ics that exist on this continent – there are far too many to even count – but we all know how many contenders step forward, once every five years, to actually GOVERN this vast tapestry of European cultural diversity. One. Yes, folks, you read that cor- rectly. (And no, I didn't hit the wrong button on the number- pad.) As in 'Highlander', there really is 'only one' candidate, for the all-important job of President of the European Commission. maltatoday | SUNDAY • 25 FEBRUARY 2024 10 OPINION At least, Americans have a choice Raphael Vassallo Nine months from the next US election, Joe Biden and Donald Trump are desperately trying to reach out to minorities