American Political Landscapes Literature & Language Term Paper

AMERICAN ELECTION LANDSCAPES
Course
Name
Institution
Date
American Political Landscapes
The 2016 elections is one of the most contested election in the American history, and more so, considered the most controversial. The elections is considered controversial due to the undemocratic practices being identified as the Hillary Clinton beating Donald Trump with over one million margin losing the election unexpectedly. From the political scene in 2016, analysts have taken a keen look on the political, constitutional, and flaws of the government to see the legitimacy of the national processes. As various analysts have put it, the American political landscape can be illustrated in different classes; political parties, constitutional, and the Electoral College. What happened in 2016 appears to have replicated itself in this year, 2020. As many expected and Trump won the public vote, he massively lost in the Electoral College votes to Biden. This depicts some controversies, drawing attention to look back on how the system is drawn.
The Electoral College
The election process is meant to represent the will of the people and this is done by allowing the people to have a chance to elect their president; but does not count as the final decision. The final decision on who is the next precedents is made by the electors chosen from each state in the US. Most voters in the US miss out on this concept. Electors are chosen equally from each state to represent the will of the public in the choice of the president. Currently only two electors are chosen from each state to form the Electoral College. Hamilton envisioned the Electoral College as the best approach to stop taking a demagogue to the top sit as they can critically assess the capabilities of the candidates and chose the best from them. In this context the democracy and the will of the public is compromised. This was clearly illustrated in the Bush and Trump’s election. In 2016, the Electoral College had all the chances to stop Donald Trump from taking the presidency as he was and has been one of the most feared president in the American history as discussed by Beinart (2016).
It was controversial that the college passionately awarded Trump to win comfortably by a good margin in the 2016 Electoral College votes despite understanding the reputation Trump has. Trump’s reputation and behavior was clear from the beginning during campaigns. The recklessness in the speeches was clear as he could turn out to be more destructive if given the powers at the highest sit. The reckless tweet on the eve of elections was even evident enough for the college to identify who he really is. This was evident as he became the president as he could comfortably argue controversially against experts. The public and the world generally has been in keen attentions to the matters of war, as Mr. President himself appeared to be interested in using the nuclear missiles, partially prohibiting Muslims in the country, and threatening to strike North Korea and ISIS. Trump appeared to break ties of the American “friends” formed by the previous governments such as Australia, Britain, and Europe generally while appearing to make friends with Russia and escalating the cold war between China and the US. The college had the opportunity at hand to prevent all these and one of the ways is to massively vote against him in 19th December 2016 election. Although the college should be loyal to the public, they are the best people who have enough knowledge and experience to know who the best candidate is and they should deliver the best for the public. As illustrated by Cabral (2020), the college is made up of retired political elites, state elected officials, and grassroots activists. This shows they are people with enough knowledge in the politics and can form good formative decisions on who to elect.
Although the college failed to vote consciously for the right candidate, experts say this year’s election clearly depicted what Hamilton had initially seen. The Electoral College proved its worth in stumping the win for Joe Biden to take over as the 46th US president. If Donald Trump was to retain the presidency for the second time compared to Joe Biden taking over, it was safer for Joe Biden taking over. With escalated China cold war, it was better to take a new president who could redefine the Americas reputation. This made Joe Bidden to be a better option compared to Trump. Despite Trump campaigning massively at the college level, he was unsuccessful indicating the consciousness of the college.
Political parties
Political parties in the US is another segment that can give unexpected results. In the world, the US has one of the best developed political party systems in the world; with all the parties converging to form only two parties. Although American political parti...