…THE ELECTORATE IS THE HOPE OF DEMOCRACY
– By Ehizogie F. Imadojemu.
(fidelbazini@gmail.com, 08030899383, 08028548553).
Americans showed once again on the 5th of November, 2024, that they can hire, fire, and re-hire at will their political office holders. This is the beautiful tale of the American democracy.
In the 1994 movie, “The Shawshank Redemption”, Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), in a scene on the playground of the fictional Shawshank State Prison, Maine, USA, told his close friend, Ellis Boyd ‘Red’ Redding (Morgan Freeman) that someday he dreamt of living in Zihuatanejo, Mexico, close to the Pacific ocean. Red thought he was crazy to dream because he was in prison serving two life sentences for the murder of his wife and her lover. Red thought his friend had lost his mind to have hope of ever leaving prison someday to actualise his dream. Red himself was also a lifer for murder. Andy, who had actually been wrongly convicted as was revealed in the movie, eventually escaped prison after spending nineteen years of two life sentences. Some years after, Red, unexpectedly, was released on parole after forty years in prison. Subsequent to his release, Red found a letter from his friend Andy telling him to join him in Zihuatanejo, Mexico. In the letter, Andy told Red, *”Hope is a good thing”* (The Shawshank Redemption, released in 1994, an American crime drama movie, written originally as a screenplay by Shawn Patrick Patterson and directed by Frank Darabont. The movie is based on Stephen King’s novel “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption”. It stars Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Clancy Brown, Bob Gunton, and James Whitmore).
The hope of every functional democracy is in the people/electorate wherein rests the power to choose who governs them. This system of government is not diminished in value nor fail because of the wrong decision the people may make at a particular opportunity to make such choice. Good or bad the people themselves directly bear the consequences of their political decisions. But, it is the freedom of the people to determine who leads them at every point in time that makes democracy a special style of government. Thus, a well informed electorate is always crucial if that freedom can be said to exist at all. And where the people have freely made a wrong decision, they would also under a functional democracy have another opportunity to correct it.
The USA possesses an abundance of a unique characteristic of a functional democracy. Not only does it allow the people to decide who governs them, a common feature of every democracy of course, but it’s democracy has the enviable quality to self-cleanse or reset itself. That is, when the people make a wrong decision in one election, particularly a wrong choice for president, they immediately regret their mistake, take a step back, re-evaluate, and vote differently in the next election to correct their mistake. It is this ability to conduct a self-cleansing operation at any time that makes the American democracy unique and greatly admired all around the world. This quality is enabled by their rich democratic institutions, i.e., their electoral and judicial institutions. Having lost faith in their once robust and independent media over the years, the people, in exerting their control over their government, have rejected their media for lack of credible and unbiased information and voted into office political candidates they have personally and objectively vetted. Most of the American mainstream media, whether print, tv or social media, have practically become the propaganda wing of the Democratic Party and activists for both moderate and extreme liberal ideologies and policies.
Donald J. Trump’s victory in 2016 completely flawed the predictions of the mainstream media (MSM), most pollster and political commentators on the US politics both in the US and globally who were certain the Democratic Party candidate, Hillary Clinton, would win easily. He single-handedly exposed their deep biases and contempt for patriotic ideals. The MSM in particular was dealt a very fatal blow after that election. The MSM blamed themselves for not being very hard on DJT and not doing enough to push Hillary Clinton across the line. To save face, the Democrats, MSM, and the deep state concocted the Trump/Russian collusion story, alleging that the Russians helped Trump win the 2016 election and that was the only way DJT could have defeated Hillary Clinton; although there were no evidence to support the allegation. The allegation has officially been debunked by bi-partisan investigations conducted since 2017. In their grand efforts to justify their loss in 2016, the Democrats and their allies failed to recognise that the American people chose DJT over Hillary Clinton in 2016 because they wanted a change from the Obama era which Hillary Clinton was expected to continue and DJT provided the possibility of the change they craved.
DJT was seen as an agent of change in 2016. He was the first American to become president of the USA who before he became president was neither in the military or held any prior elected political position. He was a complete outsider to the Washington establishment. He was a business man and had only lived in the private world. True to the expectations of the citizens of America who elected him, and for an objective observer, DJT performed exceptionally well in his first term. He rebuilt the American military under his policy of peace through strength to deter their adversaries, he improved the US diplomatic relations with adversaries like Russia, North Korea, China, etc., he created Space Force as a new arm of the military, he increased the US oil production thereby reducing the cost of oil globally and the cost of production of commodities in the US, he cut down on taxes and government regulations thereby improving the ease of doing business and thereby accelerating economic growth, his policies resulted in a significant decrease in crime rates, he defeated ISIS in few weeks after his inauguration as against the years predicted by the Obama government, he eliminated Qasem Soleimani, he started the process of bringing back American troops in foreign countries, he brought peace to the Middle-East through the Abraham Accord which he brokered, during his term the US experienced it’s best economic growth, his administration saw the least apprehensions at their southern border, he strengthened NATO by compelling member states to pay their contributions, he ended the Nord Stream II pipeline, he created Economic Opportunity Zones for Black, Hispanic, and other minority communities, his economic policies resulted in increase in median income for all households and reduction in poverty rate among all minority groups, his tenure had a CPI average inflation of about 2.3% and at the time he left office in 2021, inflation was at 1.4%, etc.
Despite DJT many accomplishments, the MSM, big techs, and Democrats waged a vile and vicious smear campaign against him, his family members, allies, and professed Conservatives generally. They impeached him twice, once as president and another after he left office. They turned into weapon to attack him everything he or any person associated with him said or did. Some of his allies were imprisoned after they were convicted of obscure offenses. At the time the US and other countries of the world were hit with COVID-19 in 2020, the MSM and Democrats had succeeded in making DJT into a monster, a renegade who should never have been president and who should never again be president. But, yet again, the MSM, Democrats, big tech and their allies and surrogates underestimated the power of the American electorate. They failed to realise that power rests with the American people, not MSM or the elitist political class which DJT opposes.
In one of the most controversial elections in American history, DJT lost the 2020 presidential election to the incumbent president, Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. (Joe Biden). It’s been widely reported that most of the swing states changed election laws and rules without following due processes as a result of the emergency situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic at the time. And that these changes favoured the Democratic Party nominee at the time, Joe Biden. Mail-in or absentee ballots that were hitherto sent only to military, government, or other personnel serving outside the US and persons who were home bound, etc., were sent out to all persons whether requested or not due to the restrictions on movements and physical contact caused by the pandemic. Due to the high numbers of these ballots when they were returned, there were little or no proper vetting before they were counted. It’s been credibly alleged that the poor vetting of these ballots which predominantly voted for the Democratic Party candidate swung the election in his favour, especially as this situation happened in a hand full of counties in the swing states.
Although the current president had promised to unite the country and surpass DJT’s accomplishments, in his almost four years the CPI average inflation is 20%, there has been increase in cost of gas, power, groceries, and other commodities, an estimated 20 million migrants have crossed the southern border, crime across the country has sky-rocketed, there has been two major wars in the Middle-East and in Europe and China is now ramping up military activities over Taiwan, Iran is close to developing a nuclear weapon, the catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan and the abandonment of about $80bn worth of military weapons and gadgets in Afghanistan, surge in antisemitism, racism and transgenderism, legal warfare against political opponents and those who disagree with liberal policies and the Biden/Harris administration, etc.
Unlike in 2020, in the 5th of November, 2024 US presidential election, Americans were able to compare the first term of DJT and the current Biden/Harris administration. Despite all the rhetorics, smear campaign, and propaganda of the MSM and Democrats projecting DJT as a fascist, Nazist, Hitler, racist, misogynist, xenophobic, etc., the election came down to the simple question, ” *was I better off four years ago under DJT”?* It’s the common sense political decision question started by Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. The survival of democracy depends on an objective answer to this political question. And if such comparison is not possible, then the decision of the electorate should be based generally on competence, integrity, antecedence (if any), capacity, and patriotism. It was the objective answer to this political choice question in favour of DJT that gave him victory on the 5th of November, 2024. The whole idea of democracy therefore is the hope that the electorate would make an objective political decision all the time.
I have read and watched the commentaries and reportage on MSM, by the Democrats and their surrogates and sympathisers whose views about DJT and his supporters are controlled by the MSM, prior to 5th of November, 2024 presidential election, during the election and after, portray DJT as Hitler, etc. They all thought by practically demonising the man, the legal warfare, the impeachments, the propaganda, the hoaxes, the smears, etc., all of which it could be argued led to the two assassination attempts on his life, they would make Kamala Harris win an election. But, once again, the electorate showed the Democrats and their propaganda machine in the MSM who is boss, and that democracy rests with the people who choose their leaders based on competence, capacity, integrity, honesty, and patriotism, not by extraneous and other petty considerations. They chose DJT over a very liberal and unproven Kamala Harris because DJT is a better candidate.
Who could have thought with what happened during his first term from 2017-2021 and the onslaught after he left office to date, DJT could bounce back and win another presidential election? Only by trust in the electorate to make a good political decision was it possible. Trust in the power of the electorate to hire DJT in 2016, fire him in 2020, and re-hire him in 2024.
DJT’s victory is a total repudiation by the American people of the media’s portrayal of him as a fascist and as Hitler and that his tenure will be the end of America’s democracy. If the media and Democrats are correct about their characterisation of DJT, why has the Democratic Party candidate conceded to Trump? If they are right and not just gaslighting the country to win an election, why would Kamala Harris concede to a man they call Hitler? It means everything the mainstream media and the Democrats have said and done to DJT since 2016 when he announced he would run for office of president was just politics, but at a diabolical level. As a result, the MSM and Democrats have divided America and fatally undermined the public trust in their once sacred public institutions, including the judiciary, the intelligence community, their media, their democratic brand, etc., just to get DJT and stop him from becoming president again. DJT’s victory in the presidential election is a another repudiation by the people of the Democrats’ policies of open borders, transgenderism, high inflation, high crime rates/including violent and migrant crimes, wars across the world, America’s diminished global standing, threat to the Dollar as the world’s reserve currency, spike in antisemitism, weaponised lawfare against political opponents, pro-lifers, etc. The American people won the battle for their democracy on the 5th of November, 2024.
DJT’s victory is seismic in US political ramifications. For the first since 2004, a Republican won the popular votes. The Republicans also gained control of the US Senate and are poised to retain the majority in Congress and may grow that majority. The mandate of the people could not be more resounding for DJT and the GOP. On the way to accomplishing these feats, DJT completely destroyed the media industrial complex. Their reputation is forever dented.
In conclusion, the Nigerian electorate is the hope of our democratic experiment, regardless of our horrible experiences since 1999, and prior. Experiences whereby the decisions of the people at an election are subverted, undermined, and substituted by the corrupt political elites who have captured the electoral umpire and the judiciary. Nigeria has a unique problem that has frustrated it’s actualisation of a functional democracy exemplified to a large degree by the American experiment. This problem can only be solved by the same electorate, a determined, resilient, dogged, tenacious, and patriotic electorate. By continuing to demand for free, fair, and credible elections and by participating in political processes and consciously finding ways to deal with the unique threat to a functional democracy, we would eventually overcome the threats.
The American model of democracy is not without its challenges, like other countries with a functional democracy, including real cases of electoral fraud and other irregularities. But as their experimentation of this style of government grew over the centuries to levels of admiration, the acceptance and recognition of the fundamental role the citizens play in the actual function of this style of government is the only thing that matters in the practise of democracy. Where the choice of the citizens do not prevail, there is actually no democracy.
Article Written By Ehizogie F. Imadojemu.
fidelbazini@gmail.com, 08030899383, 08028548553
