American Democracy at Its Worst

By Dr. Elias Akleh

Every four years the American people go through what I would call a charade event called presidential election. This election is supposed to reflect the alleged democratic spirit of the American system, where people elect “a government from the people for the people”. Sadly it is only few people, who understand that this American election is just an auction, where nominees vie to sell their hopeful future political policies for the support of the higher bidder of corporations, military industrial complex, bankers and special interest powerful political organizations.

American election is actually a quasi-democratic process established by the so-called founders of the country. Those founders; an elite on the top of the power pyramid, were colonial racist figures, who established this quasi-democratic process as a peaceful power competition among themselves. They were slave owners and feudal land lords who initially restricted voting to land owners only. Later, when they established and controlled two major political parties; Republican and Democratic parties, they allowed the tax payers to vote to appease their anger and demands for reform (no taxation without representation).

African Americans were not allowed to vote until after the abolishment of slavery and the signing of the 15^th Amendment in 1869. Yet they were faced with many “legal” obstacles such as paying poll taxes and literacy tests that were not mandated on white voters. Women, including African American women, did not have the right to vote until 1920 with the signing of the 19^th Amendment. In 1964 poll taxation was outlawed, and in 1965 President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act allowing every American citizen to vote regardless of race or ethnicity.

Still this is not a real democratic system; one person one vote. Many are not cognizant that the outcome of the primary election is based on the delegate system. Delegates are people from each state, who attend the conventions to select the presidential nominees for their respective parties. They are the most important figure for determining which candidate wins the primary election. The number of delegates from each state varies depending on the size of each state’s population. Electing a nominee depends also on whether the state gives delegates proportionally to a nominee or implements a winner-take-all system. In such case a nominee “A” may get elected even though he gets less votes than nominee “B”. This depends on the percentage of the vote (not necessarily 50%).

As if this is not complex enough, besides regular delegates the Democratic Party also has superdelegates, who are party leaders and elected officials including all Democratic members of the House and Senate and Democratic governors. These superdelegates make up 30% of the 2,382 delegates needed to win the nomination. They could swing the nomination of a candidate, similar to what happened in 2000 election, when Al Gore got more votes than George W. Bush, but lost the election because Bush got more electoral votes.

Beginning with the collapse of the Soviet Union in December of 1991, and the implied designation of the US as the only unilateral global political power, the position of the American President has become increasingly the most powerful global leadership. After the attacks of 911, President Bush’s declaration of “Global war against terror”, accompanied with his warning of “You are either with us or with the terrorists”, and the many American military aggressive interventions all over the world, the American presidential election has become the most important global event to follow with anxious anticipation, since the latest American foreign policies have a great impact on the whole world.

This particular presidential election is just another episode in the on-going American elections that are a mere form of power exercise and a privilege assertion of the 1% of the American power elite against the working class that make the rest of the American people. This power elite owns and controls both political parties; the Republican and the Democratic parties. The election is only a mere competition between members of this power elite; each wants to install his own puppet politician, who would grant him more political power and more economical control.

The nominees are selected by the power elite, set out to the public in empty theatrical debates, some giving hopeful yet undeliverable promises, attacking each other through name-calling and scandalous revelations, with empty substance televised shows that seem to be more entertaining than informative, and distorted political analysis. The goal of all this is to distract the people’s attention from the real major issues such as the elite’s strong grip and manipulation of the majority, the perpetual global military intervention, racism and social and economic inequality, lack of appropriate health policies, educational budget cuts and homelessness and poverty especially among veterans, among many others.

The ultimate job of the nominees of both Republican and Democratic parties is to serve the power elite. The selected subservient nominees on one side are manipulated and prompted to bring up the worst and extreme promises in order to make the other selected subservient nominees on the other side as comparatively the better choice. The republican nominees, represented by and focused on Donald Trump, exhibited extreme racism, discrimination, division, warmongering and immature behaviors to cover up the lies, the flip flopping positions, the seemingly “moderate” warmongering, and unattainable colorful promises of social reforms of the Democratic nominees.

Presidential candidates can avoid talking about all the real issues except one; American unconditional and non-negotiable military and economic support to Israel. It had become a mandatory electoral tradition for the candidates to head to AIPAC, the only place in the US where the Israeli flag overshadows the American flag, where they kowtow and offer homage to Zionist Jewish leaders, promising to sell their services to a colonial foreign smaller state of Israel, who had deliberately and intentionally attacked the US many times, spied on American military, stole American nuclear industry and materials, sold American intelligence to the enemy, bribed and manipulated officials and military leaders to send American troops to the Middle East to fight Israel’s proxy wars. The candidates promise to put the interests of a terrorist colonial government ahead of the interest of their own people, paying Israel billions of locally needed tax money and tons of free military equipment so that Israel could continue its colonial project in the Middle East.

One should remember that the leaders of AIPAC; Steven J. Rosen and Keith Weissman, were once arrested and charged with espionage; passing American secrets to a foreign country. Due to the power of AIPAC lobby over American courts and officials, the charges against these two AIPAC leaders were dropped, while Lawrence Franklin, the Pentagon employee, who passed the information to AIPAC, was made the sacrificial lamb and was sentenced to 12 years in prison (as reported by Los Angeles Times).

In all its activities AIPAC functions as a “foreign agent” working for the interests of the government of another country. Due to the fact that Zionist Jewish billionaires, not Israeli government, are financing AIPAC, this lobby was able to escape the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 and avoid registering as a foreign agent.

The presidential candidates went out of their way pandering to AIPAC. All candidates, showing at AIPAC, had characterized Palestinian self-defense against Israeli occupation as terrorism. They criticized nuclear deal with Iran. They promised to protect Israel from United Nations resolutions. They promised to give Israel more American tax money and more military equipment. They promised to fight Israel’s wars in the Middle East. Trump talked about “the future of American relations with our strategic ally, our unbreakable friendship, and our cultural brother, the only democracy in the Middle East, the state of Israel.” He promised to move the American embassy to “the eternal capital of the Jewish people; Jerusalem.” He expressed his pride that his daughter Ivanka is married to a Jew and is about to give birth to what he called “a Jewish baby.”

Besides criticizing the Iran deal, labeling Palestinian self-defense as terrorism describing rockets raining on Israeli towns while not mentioning anything about Israeli daily bombardment of civilians in Gaza Strip, promising to protect Israel from resolutions by the UNSC, promising to fight the BDS movement justly adopted by many European countries, and talking about the “non-negotiable” Israel’s security, Hillary Clinton promised to “take the US-Israel alliance to the next level” by maintaining Israel’s qualitative military edge in the region by “provide Israel with the most sophisticated defense technology”

 Many hailed Bernie Sanders’ decline to address AIPAC in person although he stated “Let me begin that I have a deep personal connection to Israel.” This deep personal connection was demonstrated in 1963 when Bernie spent several months volunteering on an Israeli kibbutz, a collective farm, at Shaar Ha’amakim, built on Palestinian stolen land. For a long time he avoided the Arab/Israeli issue. Looking at his record one can easily notice his flip flopping on the issue; once against Israeli aggression and once against Palestinian resistance. In 1988 he blasted Israel’s brutal treatment of Palestinian protesters as “an absolute disgrace.” In August of 2014 he responded with threatening anger to his Vermont constituents as they challenged his defense of Israeli brutal attack against Gaza Strip. In 1991 he voted to withhold millions of US aid to Israel unless it stopped building settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. Yet in September 2015 he has fully endorsed US aid to Israel and Egypt.  He condemned Palestinian “terrorism” and shyly criticized Israel’s “disproportionate responses to being attacked.” He seemed to sympathize with Palestinians in Gaza Strip, yet he did not offer any real solution besides backing up the already un-implementing unrealistic impossible to accomplish two states solutions.

He criticized America’s regime change interventions in the Middle East and criticized America’s war against ISIS. Instead he offers the ultimate Zionist plan for the destruction of the whole region by offering only support to what he calls an Arab coalition of the Gulf States, Jordan and Egypt to fight ISIS (Zionist plan of Muslims fighting Muslims; goyim fighting goyim)

We must not forget that Bernie Sanders is a Jew and remains a Jew no matter how hard he tries to change his color. Other Jews would not allow him to change. Ludwig Lewisohn, a Jew, a co-founder of the Jewish Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, stated in his book “Israel”, 1926 “A Jew remains a Jew. Assimilation is impossible, because a Jew cannot change his national character. Whatever he does, he is a Jew and remains a Jew.  The majority has discovered this fact, but too late.” It is also relevant here to remember the Zionist motto; “by way of deception thou shalt make war.”

Scouting this election landscape one could predict with high probability who the next president would be. Despite his political immaturity Donald Trump will win the republican nomination. Yet he would lose the presidency because everybody is ganging against him. On the democratic side, on the other hand, the powerful and very influential World Zionist Organization is not ready yet to have a Jewish American president. This would evoke more anti-Jewish sentiments around the world. Besides, all the seemingly social reforms Bernie is calling for and the fight against Wall Street and the military industrial complex are not appealing issues to the power elites.

Hillary Clinton has better chances of becoming the next president. She is claimed to have the necessary White House experience (lying, cheating, flip flopping, bribing, extortion, warmongering, and above all a Zionist obedient slave). According to the Associated Press she already has the support of 359 out of the 712 democratic superdelegates, giving her a clear advantage over Bernie Sanders at the Democratic National Convention. This election will be decided in the back room rather than at the voting booth.

Presidential election has become lately a fad. The last two was electing a first black president, the next one is electing the first woman president. It is time for America to follow the footsteps of other countries in Latin America (Brazil, Costa Rica, and Argentina), Europe (Ireland, Switzerland, and Kosovo), Africa (Malawi, Liberia and Central African Republic), and South East Asian countries (Indonesia, Philippines, India and Sri Lanka) in electing a female president. I would not be surprised if Hillary won two presidential terms. Then we should expect more wars for Israel, worse economic crises, and deeper collapse of American middle class; the working class.

May God help us!

Short biography:

I am an Arab American from a Palestinian descent, born in the town of Beit Jala. My family was first evicted from Haifa by the Israeli occupation during the 1948 “Nakba”, then evicted again from Beit Jala after the 1967 “Nakseh”. I live now in the US and write about the conflicts in the Arab World.

Dr. Elias Akleh

Dr. Elias Akleh is an Arab-American from Palestinian descent. His family was evicted from Haifa, Palestine after the 1948 Nakba when Zionists stole his family’s property. Then the family was evicted again from the West Bank during the 1967 Naksah, after Zionists again, occupied the rest of Palestine.