First female US President? One small step for a bonobo humanity…
So how are we going with our bonobo humanity? Certainly there’s no shortage of articulate women presenting thought-provoking, dynamic, humorous stuff online, whether it be scientific, political, historical, pedagogical or bratty, whatever that is. And naturally I’m keen to see a female President of the USA at last, in spite of my view that their presidential system should be scrapped in favour of a much more distributed power system.
The fact is that, in the past 150 years or so, barely a blink in evolutionary time, the situation re female empowerment has greatly improved in the WEIRD world. And the more female leadership, or simple participation, we have in politics, business, law, science and the military, as the first fields that come to mind, the more we will shame those nations – some democratic, others autocratic – that cling to patriarchy. It’s a fact that being seen as backward, or even untrendy, can energise a movement towards change in our increasingly interconnected world.
There is some pressure now in the USA for Kamala Harris to name her running mate asap, but just about everybody is saying that it would be a bad, nay disastrous, idea to choose a female. Of course I ‘get’ this, what with the USA’s conservatism and patriarchal religiosity, but of course I’m impatient – I don’t want to wait 1,000 years for a ‘world turned upside-down’, and there are quite a few capable women to choose from. But I’m always too impatient and too optimistic. Wouldn’t it be something, though, if the USA – for so long overly authoritarian in its governing system, overly conservative in its laws and cruel in its policies regarding healthcare, education and social security, became something like a pioneer… though I suppose it’s a bit late for that?
So I don’t think Harris will go for Gretchen Whitmer, and even Whitmer (who is said to have ruled herself out) might regard a double female ticket as ‘too risky’, and the impressive Pete Buttigieg would perhaps also be considered too ‘extreme’, not politically but for obvious other reasons. Again, my hopes are too high. I listened to the Democratic campaign rally in Pennsylvania (I think) featuring Whitmer and Josh Shapiro, and found both to be excellent, at least in terms of eloquence.
But again I can’t get over the weirdnesses of US politics. One pundit was saying ‘and by gosh and golly there’s only 100 days until the election’. Exclamation mark! Nobody wakes up to a Federal election in Australia until about thee weeks before the event. There are a handful of campaign ads from the different parties, and there are no ‘rallies’ that I’m aware of. And there’s certainly not the kinds of funds raised – we have very strict regulations about campaign finances (a $15,000 limit without disclosure). The US seems to have no regulations whatsoever – it’s the money country after all.
Anyway, weird or not, this is a very important election, not just for the USA. As an eternal optimist, I’m expecting a Trump loss, but what if, somehow, Trump actually wins? Much of the bullshit he spews (sorry for the mix-up of orifices) about his plans as Dictator will fall by the wayside, and I selfishly am not so concerned about what happens within the USA (and fortunately individual states have a fair amount of power), but there’s no doubt that dictators elsewhere will take advantage of the situation, at great human cost. What happens in the USA has global implications, unfortunately. For example, an essay, ‘Winds of Change: Ukrainian Politics Reacts to the US Electoral Drama’, linked below, and posted only two weeks ago, was mostly downbeat about Ukraine’s future given the likelihood of a Trump victory in November. Meanwhile, many of Ukraine’s rightist politicians have been looking forward to warming relationships with both the USA and Putinland. What a difference a fortnight makes!
But I’m not sufficiently au fait with US elections and such to know whether a President Harris would be able to make a difference in Ukraine, Palestine or in US-China relations (and I wouldn’t really have a clue what to do about China myself, apart from farting in Xi’s general direction). But the very idea of a woman being the person these regions – especially the Arab and Moslem nations – have to negotiate with gives me quite a thrill.
Okay, Harris hasn’t won yet. And, as mentioned, the feverish US ‘election period’ is interminably long compared to those of any other nation. And people do tend to get shot quite often over there. Just saying. And, my optimism has let me down many times before.
The FiveThirtyEight polling website, which I followed closely in the run-up to the 2020 US election, called it correctly enough, though they certainly couldn’t predict the bullshit about fake voting, or the fake electors scheme, and I must admit I was too focussed on the general vote and not enough on the Electoral College shite that has favoured Republicans for decades. I now know it’s as much about ‘swing states’ as anything else, and realize that the Democrats will have to do much more than gain a popular majority. Just another failing of their woeful federal system.
Anyway, we all need to take our protein pills and put our helmets on. It’s a long ride to November…
Vive les bonobos!
References
https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/winds-change-ukrainian-politics-reacts-us-electoral-drama
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