Orville Taylor | ‘Electile’ excitement

Sauce for the gander and duck. What interest is it to Jamaicans who wins in the American presidential election on Tuesday?

Having lived through an era, where foreign governments and nationals have interfered with our sovereignty and democratic political choices; the very idea that non-Jamaicans dare to dictate and force us to bend over backwards to their will is repulsive.

Inasmuch as my closest blood relatives are either American citizens or residents, my citizenship is Jamaican. Therefore, I have absolutely no right to tell a set of foreigners as to whom they should vote for.

Having voted freely on this little piece of rock in the Caribbean, for the last 44 years, I do not want any American, British, or French Connection in the UK to tell me whom I should vote for.

Americans are very clear about protecting their own sovereignty. With the exception of green card holders, no non-American citizen has the right to do anything to contribute to the political choices of the American people. Indeed, it is a crime for any them, however friendly they may be, to make any financial contribution or to seek to influence the outcome of any election. And let that soak in.

Doubtless, we may or may not prefer any of the two candidates, and my own exhortation to my American relatives and friends is that they should exercise their votes, because thousands of black Americans died for such a right.

Of course, it is scarily coincidental that it is being held in the aftermath of Halloween and on the eponymous Guy Fawkes Day.

In short, Fawkes was hanged after he was discovered to have planted barrels of gunpowder and attempted to burn bundles of kindle wood referred to in the old texts as the ‘F’ word.

His intention was to blow up the House of Lords and assassinate King James I, and for clarity, Fawkes was neither Jamaican nor Rastafarian.

Our former masters and big brother up north have had more than their fair share of attempts to kill their rulers and leaders.

Unlike Jamaica, where in 1944 we removed all kinds of restrictions against disenfranchised black people and gave universal access to the ballot, the journeys of our American neighbours was a much bumpier one. It took the assassination of two presidents and the killing of close to a million Americans, a century of intimidation and antagonism by the Ku Klux Klan and others and a judicial decision in 1965, that finally after blood, sweat and tears, Martin Luther King having a dream and multiple nightmares for it to be a reality.

NOTHING HAPPENS

My prayers are simply that nothing happens to prevent any American from selecting the persons of their choice.

Although a life member of the (American) Association of Black Sociologists, a status I deeply revere; my limits are commenting on social policy, offering guidance and contribution in regard to the uplift of black Americans and Americans on the whole. But whatever my preference, it is not my place to say for whom any of the other active members should vote.

This is our little place and we do things differently down here. In Jamaica, we would never have faced the same dilemma that Americans are now, because in our jurisdiction, although someone who is a convict is not precluded from being elected; if one is bankrupt he cannot. Republican candidate Donald Trump has done so multiple times. Under Jamaican law, anyone who has declared bankruptcy can never be a legislator or public servant. The American president, while sitting, cannot be charged criminally for any offence, and believe it or not he might very well be a king, despite the protestations of George Washington on the eve of independence. True, that might be unthinkable in our own jurisdiction that our head of government could direct the commissioner of police legally to end any investigation, that is well within the right of the American president. Different strokes, because we are different folks. Indeed, there is nothing to prevent any kind of legal action against our own prime minister coming out of any current investigation.

GHOST OF MONROE DOCTRINE

True, the ghost of the 1820s Monroe Doctrine still prevails and America still wishes to preserve its exclusive influence in the hemisphere. That is not such a big deal. However, as a sovereign nation, we do not have to align to all of the American values; nor does the average American care if we do, as long as our domestic and international policies are not in conflict with theirs. Different does not have to mean being in opposition to. Hopefully, whoever wins will understand that compatibility does not mean attempting to turn us into little America or threatening the freest press in the hemisphere with recriminating measures for simply exercising our freedom of speech.

We do not have to be Americanised to be friends. After all, no one tells Brazilians that they must speak Spanish like Argentinians. Yet, despite the language difference, citizens of each country can speak in their own language and be understood and all persons literate in each language, can read the other.

Speaking of sovereignty, our Parliament passed laws, which allow convicts to be legislators and parish councillors, but not public servants. Furthermore, it gave an almost profane level of discretion to the prime minister in calling elections.

If we want the Americans to respect our laws, we must first respect ours and change them when they are encumbrances.

Going into our own by-elections later in the month and general election, presumably next year, here are some facts. Nothing precludes someone not yet convicted for breaching the Parliament (Integrity of Members) Act, 1973 or the Integrity Commission Act, 2017, from being elected to the House. Moreover, even if convicted, she can return.

True, the optics are not good, but as up north, if the law allows, then let us see if it bothers the electorate enough to vote against the candidate.

It is democracy, although it sometimes seems like ‘dumbocracy.’

Dr Orville Taylor is senior lecturer at the Department of Sociology at The University of the West Indies, a radio talk-show host, and author of ‘Broken Promises, Hearts and Pockets’. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and tayloronblackline@hotmail.com.