As we enter 2024, more than a third of the world’s population will be voting. The political fate of billions is at stake. As we are english speaking and based in the US, let’s take a look at the most powerful country on Earth.
The Democratic Party has shut down primaries in Florida with limitations being implemented in other states in favor of the incumbent Biden administration despite its immense unpopularity. While the Republicans, who are running a primary of their own, seem unable to field a candidate that can overtake Trump in the polls despite him facing multiple indictments in multiple states and being kicked off the ballot in Maine with other states considering the action as well.
The Biden admin has overseen some favorable gains for the burgeoning labor movement, but the reputation of the president has been drastically diminished due to incomprehensibly awful foreign policy decisions. A failing and costly war in Ukraine serving as a proxy war against Russia as well as the full backing of a genocide against Palestinians by the state of Israel.
There is more to be said about these conflicts, though the main takeaway for US citizens is this: why is our money going to fund war when we are suffering so much at home?
Years of rising housing costs, inflation, and the increase of economic inequality in the US domestically have made these military expenses untenable. The full throated support by the US for the Israeli led genocide following the military operations by Hamas on October 7 has isolated the US on a global stage and domestically. Many US citizens, most notably Muslims in the swing state of Michigan which was a crucial state to Biden’s victory in 2020, have vowed they will not be voting for Biden in the upcoming election citing the genocide as the main factor.
Yet, despite the spending of this political capital, the Biden admin recently bypassed Congress to give Israel even more money citing an “emergency.” This stands in contrast to many domestic policies Biden campaigned on, including student debt forgiveness, where he failed to leverage his executive power and made nominal gains.
The election this year will be marked by a deep distrust and resentment of the federal government by multiple political factions of US citizens. Across the political spectrum, the legitimacy of the government is being questioned. US corporate and social media will likely exacerbate these antagonisms in order to drive viewership and sell more ads. Political violence in these conditions is likely inevitable.
It is in my view that the contradictions within US society will continue to hemorrhage its status as the global hegemon. Not only will the domestic situation become chaos, but geopolitically, the US will continue to decline. This may mean that the capitalist class will turn to fascism in order to save their profits. Lashing out at humanizing forces that insist on concessions and change. The Democrats seeming insistence on making Biden the candidate despite his immense unpopularity speaks to this. Whether delusional or an intentional plot to lose to an outright fascist regime so that corporate power can be shored up before a collapse, with plans to blame it all on voters, it doesn’t really matter. The result would be the same.
We are at the precipice of enormous change. All of this is happening against the backdrop of nuclear armed nation states and climate chaos that has been sown by capitalist production. My hope is that our species is going through mere growing pains. Ultimately, we will overcome these trials. Although there is a good reason for cynicism, there is a need now, more than ever, for solution-oriented approaches to these coming trials.
As we are the universe experiencing itself, we have a sacred cause to survive this turmoil. To what end I do not pretend to know and it may be beyond our capabilities to even speculate, but know that there is one. That humanity must endure and thrive to fulfill a sacred cosmic purpose.
ape on a dot
Roy Oro
