So at last the dust has settled for another four years and the western world can once again nominally relax. At least after the arguments and the recounts and the endless debates are over that is, because I’m sure there will be arguments and recounts and endless debates.
Whether or not the right person won the US election is not really an issue. I’m not in a place to say since I’m not a US Citizen. I know who I would have voted for were I a US Citizen, but this isn’t the time or the place to air that opinion. Those that know even the slightest thing about me and my opinions will easily be able to jump to the right conclusion anyway. What I think is interesting about this whole thing is the amount of power that one country’s ruling party can have not only over that country but over the majority of the world. Every four years the vast majority of the English-speaking world is glued to radios, television and internet newsfeeds as reliably as clockwork. Someone recently asked me why I cared who won the election; after all, I’m Canadian:
Because I’m Canadian, we hate to admit it, but the US government affects so much of our own, whoever is elected over the border will have an impact on what happens at home.
The US doesn’t just affect the US, it affects so many other people, and I’ve always thought that to be a bit frightening. I wonder if one person, one party, one anything, should have that much power. That said, I certainly can’t think of a better system, so I cross my fingers with the rest of the nation and solider on with whatever happens.
It feels odd to be thinking about all this when the flagship is currently moored off a small Australian resort island about as far away from anything as you can get, much as it felt strange to be the only one in my flat watching the election four years ago when I was living in a tiny British village that was more interested in the pub quiz than the presidential race.
Sometimes the world changes around you and you don’t even notice. Sometimes it changes and the earth seems to shake.
Time will tell which type this one is.