By R M Austin
Last week Reince Priebus, the Chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) called the Democratic leader in the Senate, Harry Reid, a “dirty liar” for saying Mitt Romney has not paid taxes for years; the same individual said President Obama has “blood on his hands” for cutting Medicare; and David Axelrod, the mild mannered adviser to President Obama, was apoplectic with fury when he was asked on ‘Meet the Press‘ last week whether Romney’s allegation that an Obama ad, which gave the impression that he was responsible for a woman’s death, was beyond the pale. There are charges, counter-charges and denials without end in the print and electronic media. Add to this the relentless and ubiquitous campaigning. The elections consume everything. This is just a small snapshot from the recent developments in the race for the White House.
The sharpness in the differences between the two parties were only intensified by the selection of Paul Ryan as the vice-presidential candidate for the Republicans. Ryan is a dyed-in-the-wool conservative who is known for his extreme views on fiscal and social matters. As such he may become a liability for Mitt Romney, especially with the female element of the electorate. Ryan has become the lightning rod for attacks by the Democrats, primarily because in his budget plan to fix America’s fiscal woes he proposed, among other things, the ending of Social Security and Medicare as American seniors have known them for the last 70 years. He stands in marked contrast to Joe Biden, the current Vice-President, who is more of a liberal and a brilliant campaigner. The clash between these two different men will add more heat to the campaign, if such a thing is possible at the moment.
But I wonder sometimes if the unsettled nature of American political society is not a reflection of deep-seated fear of the future. This is the last election that America will enter as a white Christian nation. What is called “communities of colour” is the fastest growing demographic and will have an impact on the elections. In the
