Colin Goh and Woo Yen Yen

I sent the following in to the Sunday Times for publication on 2 Nov 2008. Don’t know if it’s been published yet:
Sunday Times 2 November 2008
A Case of Electoral Dysfunction
by Colin Goh

So it’s only a few days to possibly the most significant American presidential election ever. And I can’t wait till it’s over, and neither can my cardiologist.

Because all the suspense is sending my blood pressure higher than a tai-tai’s botox bill.

“Please, please let Obama win and restore America and the world to sanity,” I moaned to the Wife, as I checked electoral projection site FiveThirtyEight.com for the umpteenth time that day.

It’s been frustrating watching the contest because as non-citizens, we can’t participate in the elections; we can’t even donate money to a campaign. Theoretically, foreigners should be impartial, but that’s fiction, if not delusion: in today’s globalized age, whoever’s in the White House affects everyone, everywhere.

I wasn’t always this kan cheong about elections. As a Singaporean, I’ve never voted in a G.E. because (1) my constituency always kena walkover, and (2) like the outcome’s ever in doubt, meh?

So when the Wife and I first came to New York, we were looking forward to experiencing elections in what was supposed to be the world’s foremost democracy.  And boy, were the 2000 US elections an experience. We learned that you could win the popular vote but not the elections, that voting could be stymied by faulty holes in the ballot, and that the courts can decide for the voters.

Still, although I wrinkled my nose at the antics of the Republicans, as a newly-arrived foreigner, I was still politically agnostic between the two main Parties. I figured both were pretty much the same, having to govern from the centre despite their ideological leanings.

The next eight years, however, sent me straight into the Democratic camp. The Neoconservative Republicans had systematically undermined almost everything I admired in the American political system, especially as a lawyer. I was disturbed by the rush to war based on the pushing through of false evidence, the horrible precedent set by the flimsy doctrine of pre-emption, the condoning of breaches of international law (Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, etc), as well as the pandering to greedy corporate interests, supported by the cynical manipulation of the less-educated.

I’m frankly skeptical that Barack Obama can really be the change agent many hope he’ll be. He’s certainly intelligent, but various powerful interests will inevitably force him to compromise on his progressive agenda. But he’s still the superior option than the Republican ticket. For all of John McCain’s claims about being a maverick, he’s still a Republican, and they’re definitely less likely to try to undo Bush’s legacy, which is crucial to restoring America’s global credibility. Certainly, their choosing a vice-presidential candidate who’s possibly even more anti-intellectual than Dubya doesn’t exactly instil confidence.

Living in New York, a solidly Democratic state, also compounds my uneasiness - there’s a palpable fear that redneck religious nuts and the corporatist Taliban will ruin America yet again.  Last week, I also got a reminder that torpedoes can come from unexpected places.

I’d always assumed that racial minorities immediately backed Obama, because he was proof that anyone, regardless of race or economic background, could rise to the top. But talking to an immigrant taxi-driver originally from Chengdu changed that.

“I’m not sure I’ll vote Xiao Hei,” he said, sucking air through his teeth as he spoke in Mandarin, employing a common appellation in New York’s Chinese neighbourhoods for Obama, which essentially means “Young Black”. “He’s sure to try to improve things for black people, and that’s going to come at the expense of all the other minorities.”

I was stunned by this response, even though I understood where his feelings came from. Like many Asians I’ve met here, most of my brushes with racism have come from African-Americans. Intellectually, I understand that this stems from envy over their comparative lack of socio-cultural capital, but it’s easy for the less enlightened amongst us to hold grudges.

“Scary,” I told the Wife as we disembarked from the cab. “Obama’s lead is so precarious.  First, it was idiots believing those emails that he’s some secret Muslim terrorist sympathizer, and now our ‘own’ people willing to put pettiness above the public interest! Don’t forget voting machine malfunctions and old-fashioned voter intimidation! Like that how to sleep?”

I haven’t felt this anxious since my ‘A’ levels. This time, however, it’s not just me that might fail, but the entire world. If there’s anything positive in this exercise, it’s that I feel more strongly than ever about the value of protecting democratic processes as well as public education.

My feeling of impotence is strong – but as a non-American, what can I do about my electoral dysfunction?

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