Human history is punctuated with periodic events that stand out as defining moments, moments that seek to shackle off the debilitating prejudices of the times, breakaway decisively from the constrictive past and promise to usher in a just order. These could be as symbolic as Gandhiji’s lifting of a fistful of fresh salt proclaiming the defiance of the British hegemony over the Indian subcontinent or as dramatic as the pulling down of the Berlin wall to herald the end of the cold war era.  But the shifts these events bring in to both the course of history and to Human enterprise are indeed tectonic and to this category belong the just concluded US elections, for the stakes on the table were the very values of democracy and they are truly defining. 

America is often looked upon as the epitome of free democracy with liberty, equality and justice as its bedrock that guarantees individual freedom and equality of opportunity to all its people. It is the uncompromising adherence to these cardinal principles promising its citizens the freedom to pursue the American dream of striving for individual excellence that drove millions to its shores and achieve success through hard work.  The monumental contributions of Americans in every conceivable pursuit of human endeavour, from science and technology, to fine arts to business can directly be traced to the individual liberties that is endowed upon all as unalienable rights. And it is those very rights that are being challenged, compromised and, at times, even withheld during the current Presidency and make the continence of Donald Trump for yet another term fought with the prospect of causing irreparable damage to the cherished American values. And thus the recent US election is indeed a watershed moment in its otherwise glorious history.

The death of George Floyd on account of the police brutality and the subsequent suppression of the“ Black Lives Matter” demonstrations across the country were a grim reminder of the downward spilling of the civil rights movement in the country and the negation of the civil liberties guaranteed. While the complaisance of the administration in quelling the protests go against the grin of the very fabric of the American ethos, the efforts to forcefully stop the supposedly illegal migrants by erecting a physical wall at astronomical costs betrays a new protectionist tendency that is totally in variance to the idea of America as the ‘land of the immigrants’ and of ‘ infinite opportunities’. And to walk out of the Paris Climate Accord was a comical display of the abjuration of responsibility of a global power in protecting the environment and the unwillingness to be part of the collaborative effort to prevent climate change through affirmative actions.  

And the appalling manner in which the Trump administration handled the Covid outbreak to the utter disregard to human lives are a case study on how not to respond to a pandemic. The meddling with research inputs that mandated strict enforcement of the Covid protocols and public ridiculing of the scientific community for telling the truth, all pointed to a dispensation that are severely at odds with its people. With a quarter of a million deaths due to the pandemic and still counting, the character of the nation that prides itself for its scientific and rationale approach towards solving human problems lay in siege. Under Trump, America seemed to be drifting away from its moral compass and needed to get back its moorings, and with the change in regime, it accomplished just that!

The electoral victory of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris thus was a historical necessity for the American people as is the message it conveys to the world at large. By defeating a President who is avowedly believed in the supremacy of one class of people over the other minorities, America just took a step back and possibly a U-turn from the path of ultra nationalism and get back to the older ways of accepting a pluralist society and diligently pursue the progress of all sessions of the society. And the rejection of a partisan agenda by the American people will have a sobering effect on all those countries across the continents where toxic nationalism seems to rear its ugly head and herein lies the significance of this election! 

God bless America!

Yours

Narayanan