An outsider’s view of the US elections

August 1, 2024

MANILA – United States President Joe Biden made the most important decision of his political career when he withdrew from his country’s presidential race. It is a significant legacy he bequeaths to his country, regardless of the results of the elections.

Americans should not begrudge foreigners from giving an outsider’s take on their election and on the candidates vying to become their nation’s leader. What’s at stake is the most powerful post on earth, and the results reverberate with impact beyond American shores. The world outside America contributes immensely to the US economy because American businesses generate hundreds of billions of income, and necessarily infuse huge chunks of taxes into the US government from the business patronage of foreign nationals. So, while the rest of the world do not have the right to vote in the US elections, we have the right to speak and to be heard because we will experience the consequences of America’s wisdom or folly. Besides, the appraisal of the candidates’ worth from a distant perch that’s uniquely available to non-Americans, may be useful to Americans because it supplements the latter’s proximate view of the aspirants.

There’s an ideological war raging on in the world today. There has always been such a war going on in our midst, but we are at a time when this kind of war is dangerously tilting in favor of those who want civilization to move on a backward trajectory.

On one side of this ideological war are countries, political parties, and leaders who subscribe to the belief that the world will be better off if humanity marches on to the beat of democratic ideals. These ideals include fair elections, freedom of expression, adherence to peace, nondiscrimination