By Tumbul Trawally, Seattle, USA
Nothing wakes up a slumbering “I-do-not-care” individual than a gut punch. Donald Trump’s presidency was a gut punch for most Americans. In 2016, a lot of eligible voters sat home and refused to participate in the democratic process of voting. They did not take his candidacy seriously. After four years of his presidency, no one forced voters to the voting booths. In some areas, voters stood in line for hours to vote while tens of millions of people, including myself, sent in their ballots weeks before election day. Americans saw his attack on democracy, government institutions, and his lack of decency abhorrent. Democracies are very fragile requiring them be protected and nurtured with vigilance.
Democracy is not a “natural” form of government for human beings. Throughout human history, the most common forms of governments have been headed by emperors, kings, or queens. In 507 BC, the Greek Athenian leader Cleisthenes introduced democracy. In 338 BC, about 170 years later, the Greek Athenian experiment with democracy was ended by Phillip II of Macedonia, father of Alexander the Great. The Roman democracy was ended by Octavian (Caesar Augustus) who reigned from 27 BC to 14 AD. Octavian was a great nephew of Julius Caesar.
Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini came to power through a democratic process when he won an election in 1921. Italian liberals ignored his undemocratic tendencies, opportunistically. In a similar vein, German conservatives ignored Adolf Hitler’s undemocratic tendencies. Adolf Hitler—of all people—won an election, believe it or not. In the United States, the Republican party turned a blind eye to Donald Trump’s trampling of democracy. In the case of Mussolini and Hitler, countless lives were lost as a result of the silence of the politicians.
Donald Trump withdrew America from the Paris Climate Accord. The danger posed by climate change is real! Great Britain was a peninsula—not an island—at the end of the last ice age, about 8,000 years ago. As the ice melted, couple with the “Storegga” slide or Tsunami, the British Isles became an island. The continent of Sahul was comprised of the islands of present-day countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Australia, and Tasmania. The rise in sea level made these countries island nations. Most of New Zealand is submerged.
In the middle of a global pandemic—Donald Trump withdrew America from the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO has the most comprehensive archive of modern diseases; furthermore, America pays for 25 percent of the WHO’s budget. His attacks on government institutions, civil servants, intelligent agencies, career diplomats became a wake-up call for most Americans. Fortunately for America, it took four years to change course. By contrast with The Gambia, it unfortunately took twenty-two years to change course. Elections are the bedrock of democracies or pressure valves of the society. Winston Churchill said, “Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” We should all participate in the democratic process for apathy or indifference can have tragic consequences.