Today, for most Americans, being a member of the Democratic or a Republican party means there is no organisation, no sense of belonging and no real opportunity to make one’s voice heard.
Today, for most Americans, being a member of the Democratic or a Republican party means there is no organisation, no sense of belonging and no real opportunity to make one’s voice heard.
Today, for most Americans, being a member of the Democratic or a Republican party means there is no organisation, no sense of belonging and no real opportunity to make one’s voice heard.
Today, for most Americans, being a member of the Democratic or a Republican party means there is no organisation, no sense of belonging and no real opportunity to make one’s voice heard.


The US election has ushered in the collapse of the Democratic and Republican parties


  • English
  • Arabic

November 11, 2024

If the US elections last week confirmed anything, apart from Donald Trump’s victory, it is the collapse of America’s two main political parties as vibrant organisations that once brought people together, empowered them and were responsive to their needs.

There was a time when it meant something to be a member of the Democratic or Republican parties. There was a structure to the party from the local to the national level. People belonged, went to meetings and were proud of their association.

Today, for most Americans, being a Democrat or a Republican means being on lists that get emails, text messages, direct mail, phone calls, or targeted social media messages. Most of these are asking for money. There is no organisation, no sense of belonging and no real opportunity to make one’s voice heard.

The parties, which once represented voters and empowered them, are now fundraising vehicles that amass billions of dollars during each election cycle. These dollars go to consultant groups that use the money to raise more money to pay for advertising, and conduct polling to shape messaging either to define and promote their candidates or to define and discourage support for their opponents.

These consultants set the agendas for the campaigns because they control huge amounts of campaign dollars. They have effectively replaced the parties as the forces driving politics. These consultants are today’s power-brokers and operate without accountability.

One of the by-products of this situation is that there is increasingly less voter identification with the parties. The parties themselves have become less membership entities and more fundraising vehicles. This is why it was so easy for Mr Trump to take over the Republican Party and why the Democratic Party has become captive to its big donors and consultants who spend their money.

The consultancy blob are out of touch with a changing electorate and have little more to offer other than the same old ideas

This problem has become aggravated by the emergence of what are known as super-PACs – independent committees that can receive and spend unregulated contributions from billionaires who, often hiring the same groups of consultants, now hold even greater sway over the political process than the parties themselves.

One problem with the political consultant class isn’t just the power it wields, it’s the judgments that it makes, and to whom it is ultimately answerable. It’s not to the political parties, or the voters. It’s to the donors who are paying its tab.

Another problem is how overly cautious, unimaginative and out of touch these consultants are with voters and their needs.

An ex-official in former president Barack Obama’s campaign once decried the “foreign policy blob” that he described as a self-perpetuating cast of characters who had served in past administrations. They now populate the think tanks and the commentariat. They are out of touch with a changing world and yet offer the same ideas – a kind of group-think of conventional wisdom – that failed before and are destined to fail again.

The same is true of the political consultancy blob. They are out of touch with a changing electorate and have little more to offer other than the same old ideas that may have succeeded once but, given the changes that have occurred in the electorate, are destined to fail.

For example, those who ran this year’s Democratic campaigns failed to appreciate the economic insecurity of white working-class voters, instead focusing their attention on what they called the “Obama coalition” of young and non-white voters, and college-educated women. They rejected as too leftist increasing taxes on the richest one per cent, providing universal health care and raising the minimum wage.

Instead of attending to the needs of working-class voters in key battleground states, they had Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris campaign with former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney believing that she would help win over moderate Republicans, and suburban women – which she could not. And of particular note, they failed to understand the impact of the war in Gaza on not only Arab-American voters, but also on key components of their Obama coalition, in particular young, progressive and non-white voters.

Sensing the opening created by the Democrats’ miscues, Mr Trump embraced the largely disenfranchised white working class, promising new jobs, while preying on their feelings of abandonment by railing against immigrants who he accused of taking jobs and bringing crime to our cities.

Instead of breaking with this failed approach, Ms Harris embraced it. She backtracked on her earlier left-leaning policies favouring universal health care and support for a green economy. Instead of engaging left-leaning white working-class voters, her campaign largely ignored them, opting instead to campaign with Ms Cheney.

Instead of meeting Arab Americans, she left that field wide open for Mr Trump to exploit. And instead of using the short time available to her to introduce herself to key constituencies by personally meeting leaders and winning new allies, she made do with mass rallies of supporters.

This is where the consultants failed. Democrats lost the White House and the Senate. Ms Harris won far fewer votes than President Joe Biden did in 2020. And she lost votes with almost every demographic group, including key minority groups.

In the aftermath, the Democratic pundits will find fault with the voters and their choices, not with the poor decisions they themselves made. They will denounce white voters as racist or misogynistic. And they will ask, how could Hispanics vote for Mr Trump after what he and his supporters said about them? And how could Arabs and Muslims forget what Mr Trump did to them during his first term?

In hearing this, I am reminded of one of the sayings attributed to St Augustine – that in the contest between the church and the world, it’s the church that must go to the world, not the world to the church. In other words, the party shouldn’t blame the voters. If it wants their votes, it must earn them.

The party and its consultants made their money, and they made poor choices. But will they pay the price?

Tips for avoiding trouble online
  • Do not post incorrect information and beware of fake news
  • Do not publish or repost racist or hate speech, yours or anyone else’s
  • Do not incite violence and be careful how to phrase what you want to say
  • Do not defame anyone. Have a difference of opinion with someone? Don’t attack them on social media
  • Do not forget your children and monitor their online activities
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES

Friday Hertha Berlin v Union Berlin (11.30pm)

Saturday Freiburg v Borussia Monchengladbach, Eintracht Frankfurt v Borussia Dortmund, Cologne v Wolfsburg, Arminia Bielefeld v Mainz (6.30pm) Bayern Munich v RB Leipzig (9.30pm)

Sunday Werder Bremen v Stuttgart (6.30pm), Schalke v Bayer Leverkusen (9pm)

Monday Hoffenheim v Augsburg (11.30pm)

The White Lotus: Season three

Creator: Mike White

Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell

Rating: 4.5/5

MATCH INFO

Fixture: Thailand v UAE, Tuesday, 4pm (UAE)

TV: Abu Dhabi Sports

The specs: 2018 Nissan Patrol Nismo

Price: base / as tested: Dh382,000

Engine: 5.6-litre V8

Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic

Power: 428hp @ 5,800rpm

Torque: 560Nm @ 3,600rpm

Fuel economy, combined: 12.7L / 100km

It Was Just an Accident

Director: Jafar Panahi

Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr

Rating: 4/5

If you go

The flights

There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.

The trip

Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.

The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.

 

On Instagram: @WithHopeUAE

Although social media can be harmful to our mental health, paradoxically, one of the antidotes comes with the many social-media accounts devoted to normalising mental-health struggles. With Hope UAE is one of them.
The group, which has about 3,600 followers, was started three years ago by five Emirati women to address the stigma surrounding the subject. Via Instagram, the group recently began featuring personal accounts by Emiratis. The posts are written under the hashtag #mymindmatters, along with a black-and-white photo of the subject holding the group’s signature red balloon.
“Depression is ugly,” says one of the users, Amani. “It paints everything around me and everything in me.”
Saaed, meanwhile, faces the daunting task of caring for four family members with psychological disorders. “I’ve had no support and no resources here to help me,” he says. “It has been, and still is, a one-man battle against the demons of fractured minds.”
In addition to With Hope UAE’s frank social-media presence, the group holds talks and workshops in Dubai. “Change takes time,” Reem Al Ali, vice chairman and a founding member of With Hope UAE, told The National earlier this year. “It won’t happen overnight, and it will take persistent and passionate people to bring about this change.”

Our legal consultant

Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
BULKWHIZ PROFILE

Date started: February 2017

Founders: Amira Rashad (CEO), Yusuf Saber (CTO), Mahmoud Sayedahmed (adviser), Reda Bouraoui (adviser)

Based: Dubai, UAE

Sector: E-commerce 

Size: 50 employees

Funding: approximately $6m

Investors: Beco Capital, Enabling Future and Wain in the UAE; China's MSA Capital; 500 Startups; Faith Capital and Savour Ventures in Kuwait

Our family matters legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

From Zero

Artist: Linkin Park

Label: Warner Records

Number of tracks: 11

Rating: 4/5

Abandon
Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay
Translated by Arunava Sinha
Tilted Axis Press 

Match info

Manchester United 0-0 Crystal Palace

Man of the match: Cheikhou Kouyate (Crystal Palace)

Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
  1. Join parent networks
  2. Look beyond school fees
  3. Keep an open mind
Jetour T1 specs

Engine: 2-litre turbocharged

Power: 254hp

Torque: 390Nm

Price: From Dh126,000

Available: Now

The%20specs%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2.0-litre%204cyl%20turbo%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E261hp%20at%205%2C500rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E400Nm%20at%201%2C750-4%2C000rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E7-speed%20dual-clutch%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFuel%20consumption%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E10.5L%2F100km%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENow%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh129%2C999%20(VX%20Luxury)%3B%20from%20Dh149%2C999%20(VX%20Black%20Gold)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Labour dispute

The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.


- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law 

Updated: November 11, 2024, 5:10 PM`