The US Midterm Election 2022: A World-Historical Event?

The US Midterm Election 2022: A World-Historical Event? In 1789 French Revolution toppled the monarchy’s ancien régime and opened the door for liberal democracy and the “modern world.” In their 1917 revolution the Russian Bolsheviks gave the world its first “communist” state. In 2001, the attacks on 9/11 changed the world, bequeathing both a destabilizing “global war on terror” and fundamental redefinitions of “privacy” and “security” for the dawn of the Digital Age. History happens, and things change. Today – right now – in the United States, the rival Republican and Democratic parties are accusing each other not just of having bad economic or foreign policies, but instead of actually “betraying America” and trying to “topple democracy”. Whichever side has your sympathies, the stakes couldn’t be higher. After over two hundred years, could the world’s first true modern democracy actually be on its last legs? As understated by CBS news, “The 2022 midterm elections could be the most consequential in years, possibly defying political history and resetting modern political norms.” (19 September 2022) How are we to make sense of this turmoil from here, up North? Could Canada too be swept into currents of “illiberal democracy” – as championed by Viktor Orban, the Hungarian leader seen as a model by supporters of former US President Donald Trump and other right-wing movements around the world. Is President Joe Biden truly the dangerously incompetent leader the Republicans & Fox News claim him to be, or is the United States really in danger of turning “semi-fascist”, as he recently warned? Either way, how “safe” is Canada? Such questions will be addressed by a public panel to be held at Douglas College in New Westminster, Friday night, 7 October 2022, at 7 pm, room N 2201. Panelists include Hugh Gusterson, Professor at UBC’s School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, who will analyze the mid-term election in terms of the struggle within the Republican Party between Trumpists and more conventional Republicans. Jovian Radheshwar, a Douglas College political scientist, plans to use psychoanalytic and political theory to examine the increasingly polarized American people. Drawing from his work on Nazi Germany, Douglas College historian Jeff Schutts will provide a broader context for assessing whether the United States is in danger of becoming “fascist”. All three are American citizens now living/teaching in Canada. (If you also are a dual-citizen: be sure to register now so that you can vote in November: www.votefromabroad.org.) Come, listen to what they have to share from their professional expertise – each representing a different academic discipline, and join the discussion afterwards. I will be writing a more formal press release first thing next week, but the plan is for each panelist to draw from their academic discipline and experience to highlight various ways to understand the troubling and unique importance of this year’s US Midterm Election. For now, it is likely that Gusterson will be addressing the nuts and bolts of the elections – which races are key and how the two parties are fundraising and otherwise shaping the electoral process, to include the role of former President Donald Trump. Radheshwar will use political theory to analyze today’s divisive society and the dangers this poses to democracy. Schutts will add a historical context for evaluating the claim that a new “fascist” age is dawning. All the panelists are American citizens now living and teaching in Canada.