AS MERE spectators of the American presidential process, we may well wonder why it feels so different from our own party-leadership contests and General Elections. The basic difference is, of course, that a presidential system inevitably boils down to a fight between rival personalities. Yet how flawed those personalities can be.
President Biden clung on way past his sell-by date, proudly insisting that he was still the best bet, in spite of his evident incapacities. As for Donald Trump, his offences are still fresh, while memories linger of 6 January 2021 and his attempt to overthrow the results of what he still describes as a “stolen” election (News, 15 January 2021). The most likely Democratic presidential candidate, the Vice-President, Kamala Harris, has a lot to prove; one cannot help wondering whether she has the charisma and the ego to persuade her own party, let alone the electorate.
The philosopher Plato believed that the notion of democracy was fatally flawed. For him, the people would always choose the personality who promised to satisfy the lowest desires of the greatest number, and he predicted that this would inevitably lead to chaos.
But, whether Plato was right or not to condemn democracy, there is another way of looking at American politics which goes back to the country’s origins. The early settlers believed that they were part of an exodus from the religious tyrannies of Europe to a new promised land. One of the first things that they insisted on was a separation of Church and State. While this protected religious dissidents from persecution, it also meant that the United States would never develop a theology of the State, fostering, instead, a form of civic religion vague enough to prevent any religiously sanctioned view of the “common good” to emerge.
The Church of England, on the other hand, in common with other European Protestant nations, argued for a positively Christian view of the State, encapsulated in the notion of a “commonwealth”. Belonging together remains important here, even in our fractious times. But, in the US, loyalty to “the chief” counts for more.
This is why American presidents are expected to be big, charismatic personalities. It may be no coincidence that four have been murdered, while three others (now including Mr Trump) have survived assassination attempts (News, Comment 19 July).
Perhaps the problem with the American system is that it depends on what, in Christian terms, is the sin of pride, the egoism and self-flaunting that ensure that even wounds are worn as weapons. Think of President Biden’s demands that we “unsee” his obvious frailty; look at Mr Trump constantly parading his own victimhood.
Perhaps Ms Harris could break this mould, but whether this would translate into success with her own party, let alone with the nation, is another question. Meanwhile, God bless America and spare us from drifting towards a more presidential system.