A victory for Kamala Harris will save the world. In the literal sense. Any dictators and Trump admirers will fall silent, and in America itself, despair has suddenly turned to enthusiasm. This brings lessons for us in Bulgaria as well.
Comment from Prof. Evgeny Dainov:
America is being reborn with Kamala Harris running for president on behalf of the Democratic Party. In place of the quiet despair, of the hushed anticipation of the victory of an increasingly detached Donald Trump, came an unprecedented wave of optimism and enthusiasm. In the first ten days of her campaign, Democrats were flooded with an unprecedented wave of 300,000 new campaign volunteers and raised $200 million, mostly from grassroots. The polls have turned upside down, and while Joe Biden was trailing Trump by 5-6 percent, Harris is now ahead of Trump by that much. A bright victory for the Democrats is looming, unseen since the first term of Barack Obama.
What happened? How did it happen? And how important is it that it happened?
Prior to Biden's withdrawal from the presidential race, American politics seemed worn out, disempowered, without direction. The system had stalled to the point of offering voters a choice between an 81-year-old and a 78-year-old candidate - one increasingly frail, the other increasingly violent. Sensing the weakening of politics, people around Trump promised the establishment of a Latin American-style dictatorship, and Trump himself hinted to Americans that once they elected him, they would never have to vote again. Because there will be no more elections.
Then Kamala Harris came along and the quiet desperation turned 180 degrees. In seconds it turned into enthusiasm - enthusiasm precisely for politics.
An American journalist described how he was on a bus full of young people when the news came over the radio that Joe Biden was giving up being a candidate in favor of Harris. The whole bus burst into cheers and shouts of joy. Judging by polls, this joy is currently spilling out of the Democratic Party and sweeping across the country.
Despair turns to joy when hope appears. And not just hope, but hope embodied in a politician who radiates calm and normalcy after years of politics that encouraged hysteria, simplism and hatred. In addition to his proverbial smile, Harris immediately began inundating Americans with messages of unity and achievement - after years of division and a sense that the country was headed for failure.
A win for Kamala Harris will literally save the world. Any dictators and Trump fans will be silenced. America will not close itself off to the world to stew in its own hatreds. But even now, the political upheaval achieved by and alongside Harris brings lessons for everyone, including us here in Bulgaria.
And here, as until recently in America, politics is an arena of hatred, division, personal vendettas and foul language. And here, as until recently in America, the system seems blocked and unable to give birth to meaningful majorities, on the verge of some kind of dictatorship. And here, as until recently in America, the political leaders look worn out, worn out, shabby, and quite a few of them - embittered.
In the democratic end of Bulgarian politics, things look like the Democrats in America, while Joe Biden was in charge. In a word: hopeless, sad, discouraging, dull. What is needed is not a continued search for ways to participate in power through various, increasingly exotic combinations with other parties, but a majority or at least a serious second place. Attracting hundreds of thousands more votes is absolutely necessary with a view to future efficiency, instead of the current gurgling around small current initiatives, with our backs to the voters.
Most important: hope
If it is understood that the job of parties in a democratic republic is to attract votes and not to try out different combinations, this means two things. The first: a conversation with people, everyday, on issues that interest them. The second: sidelining current leaders who, despite being mostly half Joe Biden's age, are starting to look like him — and accordingly finding a Kamala Harris equivalent. The combination of the two will also give the most important third: hope and the accompanying joy.
The politics of desperation is the specialty of extreme authoritarians, populists and similar unpleasant types. The politics of the Democrats is the politics of hope. If you look at a politician and see that he does not offer hope - then either he is not a Democrat or he is not a politician. And there is no work in the arena of politics.
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This comment expresses the personal opinion of the author and may not coincide with the positions of the Bulgarian editorial team and of DV as a whole.