Today is voting day in the United States, with midterm elections being held across the nation. Major county, state and federal elections are held every two years, on the first Tuesday of November. Some coincide with the presidential election every four years and some are held at the halfway point in the presidential term, earning them the nickname of being midterm elections.
There are some advantages to the American system over the Canadian. For starters, citizen engagement tends to be high because there's always an election around the corner (the first declared candidates for president will emerge early next year, more than 18 months before the election) and there's constantly a chance for voters to endorse the vision of the incumbents or throw the bums out, depending on their mood. Public positions that are appointed in Canada, such as county sheriff, judge, even the coroner, are elected positions in many American districts. On the one hand, those roles become politicized but, on the other hand, there is direct accountability to the voting public.
Party allegiances run through American politics, from the smallest village to the state legislature to the White House and Congress. Virtually all candidates represent one of the two major political parties, the Democrats and the Republicans, although there are states where the Tea Party is a force, which is either trying to rebuild or blow up the Grand Ole Party (the Republicans), depending on your viewpoint. Knowing those party allegiances for the candidates makes it much easier to vote, if you consistently support one party or the other.
But that's also where the American system is a disaster compared to the organized political chaos in Canada. American candidates representing one party or the other (or the other other in the Tea Party) are beholden to those parties for money, connections and stances on the various issues. While some ability to work with members of the other parties to get various initiatives passed is important when in power, elections are all about making it us or them.
Nasty election campaigns at all levels run through the country's history and that polarization has drifted to the highest levels. Republican representatives in the Congress and Senate, the two houses that balance the power of the president, were free to back Democratic initiatives in exchange for political favour and support on future efforts but those collaborative days of deals and horse trading are over.
Democrats have demonized Republicans as racist, rednecks, fascist millionaires, anti-abortion, anti-intellectual, anti-poor, pro-guns and pro-war while Republicans happily portray Democrats as weak, bleeding hearts, tax spenders, soft on crime, elitists, socialists, anti-free enterprise, anti-military, anti-family values and pro-government control over all aspects of society.
At no time during American elections will candidates agree that their opposition are decent, well-meaning, hard-working, patriotic Americans just like them.
Contrast that to Prince George's municipal election campaign, where virtually all of the candidates, whether for mayor, city council or school board, are not overly negative in either their campaigning or their public comments about each other. On one hand, it's so civil, so polite and so Canadian. On the other hand, it's so boring. There is something to be said for the fierceness of American campaigns, partly because they're interesting but also because they excite voters.
The U.S. party system, down to the local level, makes it easy to choose because the differences between candidates are exaggerated. The independence of the candidates in the local municipal elections is great for collaboration and progress after the campaign ends and the political work begins but it makes it much harder to see those differences before heading to the polls.
