America Decides

America has managed to contain the differences with some difficulty. The myth of the melting pot never accommodated the Black population, which arrived as slaves involuntarily and continued to exist in the lower depths of the nation. America fought a Civil War not on the issue of slavery but on the constitutional question of States8217; rights as against Federal rights. It was the bloodiest war in its history, with more lives lost than in the Second World War. It was only towards the end that Lincoln declared the Abolition of Slavery. Even then it has taken another 144 years till a half-black candidate has come to be one of the two major candidates for Presidency.

The solvent for America has been a robust notion of what it means to be an American. Immigrants who aspire to be Americans are told to leave their previous histories and cultures behind and take on the full burden of American history and integrate into its culture. America did not admit all the languages that the immigrants brought with them nor the many that the original Native Americans Indians spoke. It stuck to English. Even a Vietnamese who becomes an American must accept all the errors and follies of the Vietnam adventure America undertook and the way in which it tore the country apart. But he can debate with anyone else the legacy of the Civil War or whether the decimation of the Native American tribes was an avoidable tragedy. When you play Cowboys and Indians, are you General Custer or Sitting Bull?

This time, the decision takes place in an atmosphere of crisis. The financial markets have gone into a meltdown and the success stories of the last two decades are beginning to look hollow. But even so the sins of the Federal Government under Bush, which pursued tax cuts and budget deficits with a vengeance and ran double deficits for eight years, must also come in for scrutiny. America needs to reform its markets as much as its government. When the President is of the same party as the majority in Congress as between 2000 and 2006, there seem to be few checks and balances. The philosophy of free markets went hand in hand with that of Big Government except that it played for the Rich not the Poor.

I still don8217;t know who will win on Tuesday. Obama is obviously the favourite of the world outside the US. But no one should think that if he became President he would bring an agenda reflecting his Kenyan father to White House. He would be an American President playing for American success. For all I know, he may be more belligerent than George Bush if his Pakistan policy is any guide.

McCain has had bad press but he did show courage in choosing Sarah Palin. Liberals in the US are foaming at the mouth but many things said against her are pure misogyny. As a former soldier, McCain may be a more peace-loving President than Bush.

If McCain wins, it won8217;t be the end of the world; nor if Obama wins, will it be a new dawn.