Race In Races
By Mano Ratwatte –March 8, 2016
Mano Ratwatte
A short note on US Presidential demographics and does it matter to Sri Lanka?
There is an air of excitement and anger in the US today. We may ridicule or laugh and say “How could people vote for Trump?”
The US is more divided an angry today than 8 years ago. Whether than Anger will result in a demagogue being elected as President is yet to be seen.
Protectionism and tariffs on imports are usually the call of Blue collar Democratic politicians but Trump is carrying that torch. The Wall is his own unique rallying call supported by many in both parties. Don’t underestimate the power of the lesser educated angry white people this time. Republican primaries are drawing massive numbers of voters to the Polls in the same proportions as Democrats did in 2008. Trump has been able to bring people to the polls in unprecedented numbers.
Who will be better for Sri Lanka? It depends. For the current Sri Lankan government, doing great things to heal relations with the USA perhaps a Hillary regime with some of the same failed bureaucrats who bungled Libya will be better. Her focus (that is if she isn’t indicted before November for email server problems) will have to be the Middle East. She is likely to leave Sri Lanka to the bureaucrats in the State Department.
Trump or any Republican candidate will have to focus more on the Middle East and trying to walk a tight rope and appease angry rich Sunni Arab nations, and bring some stability and destroy ISIS. Sri Lanka is never on anyone’s radar for too long except that it is in a strategic geographic area and is an actor in the US-Indian strategies across key shipping routes and in their game to contain China. Republicans are likely to exacerbate tensions and increase military aggression in the Middle East. Trump and Cruz are willing to accept collateral damage, carpet bomb, and be more aggressive in killing terrorists, and their families like how the UNP dealt with the JVP in 1987-89. They are less likely to worry about human rights issues.
There is a racial undercurrent in the USA. Take a look at the numbers below for the states that voted on Tuesday March 2016 in “Super Tuesday” primaries. The states were Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas (all Southern Confederate states), Vermont, Massachusetts and Alaska. What does it tell you about the Trump factor and enthusiasm? It doesn’t bode well for the Democrats. The excitement factor is clearly in favor of the Republican Party in 2016;
