America on the edge

Govind Talwalkar

A TERRORIST taking heavy toll of human lives in Nice, followed by the ambushing of the police in Dallas, Texas and in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, have undermined the confidence of the ordinary Americans, who already had been on edge due to the recent terrorist attacks in San Bernadino and Orlando. 

The American constitution guarantees the separation of the church and the State. Even so, some are advocating bringing God into our lives. Some are in a mood to revise their long cherished dreams and their liberal instincts. No wonder that on the eve of the Republican convention in Cleveland, Donald Trump, as expected, at the outset referred to the terrorist attack in Nice and repeated his warning that the present dangerous world requires us to be vigilant against the enemies. 

 The general reaction in the US seems to concede this. He called himself a ‘Law and Order’ candidate and lambasted the Obama administration for its foreign policy, which, according to him, has not only failed, but has also increased the national debt and threatened its security.

In his campaign, Trump has never tired of proclaiming that he was proud to be a Conservative candidate and would appoint a Conservative judge to the Supreme Court, when the occasion arises.

Therefore, it is no wonder that he has selected Mike Pence, the Indiana Governor, as his running mate. Conservative credentials of Pence are admired by the tea party wing of the Republicans. Though Pence started his political career as a Democrat, he joined the Republican Party under the spell of Ronald Reagan. He served as a member of the Congress for 12 years and became the Governor of Indiana. He is opposed to abortion and gun control. He is an ardent supporter of the usual Conservative plank, even going to the extreme of rejecting the theory of evolution.

By selecting Pence as a running-mate, Trump has tried to unite his party. He was alienated from the core of the party establishment and the lobbyists who usually donate generously to the Republican presidential campaign.    

Strangely, despite being a billionaire himself, Trump has not succeeded in collecting millions by way of campaign donations. By inducting Pence, Trump now has not only assuaged the feelings of the party bosses, but also those of the lobbyists. 

Recently in Orlando, the LGBT club was the target of a radicalised Muslim attacker. People celebrating Bastille Day on July 14 in Nice on the French Riviera were massacred by a Tunisia-born Muslim extremist. France seems to have been the target of Muslim terrorists. It has had several such attacks in the past two years.

The confidence of the American people in general is not very high because of the recent happenings, here and abroad. Trump has not failed to remind the people that he was the first to sound the warning about the external and the homegrown terrorist threat.                                                     

In shops, restaurants or even hospitals, one comes across people who feel relieved talking to somebody and expressing their anxiety whether we would have  9/11 or other such terrorist attack again. 

In the same mood, several people express their anger and resentment about President Obama’s insistence on not using the words “radical Islam” to describe Muslim terrorists or even the ISIS. 

They ask whether the jihadist by another name would automatically be law-abiding and aware of the civic duties and be very gentle. Since the answer is no, why does the administration not want to identify the jihadists by their religion in which they themselves profess pride? In general, this is the mindset of the common folks, irrespective of race. 

Such a mindset in this election season might weigh on the voting process. Also, Obama’s plan to settle some thousands of refugees from Syria in the US might be opposed by some members of the Congress and the Senate. That Hillary wants to quadruple the number of such refugees has created resentment, which may cost her votes. 

There has been a deep racial divide due to police brutality experienced by blacks over the years, despite the   existence of the Civil Rights Act for the past 50 years. The division has now raised its head horribly due to recent unjustified shooting of blacks by the police. Nevertheless, both blacks and whites are united in opposing the influx of Muslim refugees. 

The mood to re-examine and, if need be, to revise the liberal instincts of society, in general, is palpable. But this seems to be the present trend the world over. The British voting for the exit from the European Union is, in a way, a manifestation of nationalism.  In next year’s elections in France, Germany and Italy, the verdict may go against the European Union. In America, Trump’s slogan is “America first”. He denounces various international trade pacts. 

Standing for “America first” might cost this country its world leadership. But Trump does not mind, as he says that the so-called world leadership brought huge debts and decade-long wars which have brought nothing but the rise of terrorist organisations and their constant threat. People are scared and tired of instability.

On the other hand, the policy of leading from behind, as advocated by Obama, has created more mess and widespread bloodbaths and suicidal attacks. Those who used to indulge in loud shouts, but had no solid party behind them, were hailed as harbinger of the Arab Spring in Egypt and were to usher in a new regime of peace and prosperity. 

The demand of those revolutionaries for new order vaporised and they themselves joined hands with their so-called enemies. This tragedy is graphically described in the eyewitness account by Robert Worth, The New York Times representative in the Middle East.

So, in these trying and dangerous days, let us hope that the retrospection by the Americans might bring some sobriety which the rulers have lost over the past 16 years or so. Moreover, the federal government does not wield all the power here, states also assert authority and it is rare that the same party has the power at the centre and every state. These checks and balances help rein in extremist tendencies of both parties. So, there is hope.    

— The writer is a well-known commentator and author