Perilous to ignore US polls

Indian migrants living in US are part of society and can't say that the poll is for Americans only, writes Binay Kumar.

The political campaign for the White House is beginning to heat up as we move closer to the d-day, November 2. Every week sees a new 'scandal' crop up, as both sides try to discredit each other. For non-citizens, however, who watch from the sidelines, much of the political circus doesn't add up to more than a free amusement.

Unfortunately, my fear is that the 'amusement' may prove too dear for the rest of the world in the long run, irrespective of who occupies the Oval office. Of course, the Indian immigrants living in America are now part of the society and cannot thus pronounce that the poll is for an American President for Americans. Moreover, given the global situation, even countries, including India do feel the impact of who sits in the Oval office.

In other words, my proposition is that the race for the White House is far too important for the rest of the world to be left to the Americans alone. It goes without saying that such a thesis cannot advocate direct participation for all, for that would run counter to and repudiate the fundamental principles of electoral democracy.

But that is what makes it all the more frightening: you may not necessarily have a direct say - a vote - in what goes on here, yet you, no matter where you live on this planet, will not be able to escape the far-reaching consequences of the final outcome. It is, therefore, very important for all of us to recognise that whether or not we are citizens of this country, there is an interest for us in what the US does. Cynical though it may sound, such a predicament for the international community is hardly a democratic one.

Not since Vietnam has America faced such international scrutiny as it does now. And perhaps rightly so. America changed forever on September 11, 2001, an event that ripped through the heart of America's relative insularity at home. The most significant change that 9/11 brought was to banish the idea of America's invincibility for good. The emperor suddenly had no clothes! And for any emperor that's a very unhappy situation to be in.

Unhappy indeed though that situation is one is not sure if any other emperor would have reacted in the way this one chose to. At the end of the Cold War, with no real challenge left to its might in the world, the expectation was that America would turn more introverted in its foreign policy and secure only multilateral engagements overseas. History bears witness that 9/11 forced the hands of the incumbent president to do otherwise. Whereas international politics was his weakest point pre 9/11, that vantage date came to define his presidency; international politics overshadowed everything else under the sun.