WE ARE OFFICIALLY in the Trump era. No one knows for sure what that means.
What that means is that not much has changed.
You may be forgiven if years ago you thought you could predict what life would be like when leadership changed. You might have been one of those in the US chanting “Yes, we can” at full-hype. Or you might have been one of those in Barbados, on the back of a truck, in a yellow T-shirt chanting “Time
for change”.
Sam Cooke was right. A change is always gonna come, but it rarely comes on the wings of a political saviour. Once in office President Barack Obama’s “Yes, we can” was met with a Republican “No, you can’t”. The change that was hoped to come did not. It was never going to. America is not run by a person. It is run by a system. Change the president but keep the system intact and all is well with the statusquo. In the words of Lord Zenn: “Is de system, fam.”
This is called stability. America is a stable country. No one-man or one-woman or one-group of terrorists will cause any significant wobble. It is on this kind of stability, resistant to glitches in political personalities that America and many other Western-style democracies rest. It is this stability that leads me to believe that any changes under President Donald Trump will also be less than dramatic. The drama is in the not knowing for sure.
Before we get too caught up in admiration of stable Western democracies, let us reflect on the fact that the foundation of the institution referred to as the West is piracy, slavery, imperialism and terrorism. The British Empire owes its existence to men like Sir John Hawkins, born in 1532.
Hawkins was a privateer. Privateers were men with piracy licences. They were granted the right to murder, steal, and intimidate on the high seas on behalf of the Queen. He is one of the first men to get rich from the trade of kidnapped Africans. His most famous ship was called Jesus Of Lubec. He and his cousin, Sir Francis Drake sailed the good ship Jesus, packed with African captives, to Venezuela.
Lest we make the mistake of thinking this is ancient history bearing no relevance to today, let us make mention of Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North of the United States Marines. North was the central character in the Iran-Contra scandal during the presidency of Ronald Reagan. To make a long story short, North took responsibility for a secret operation in which America sold weapons to a supposedly terrorist nation and used the money to support a terrorist organisation in another nation. North was also accused of helping this terrorist organisation to set up a network for trafficking illegal drugs into US ghettos in order to fund their terrorist activities.
Generations of Barbadians were taught in school to consider Hawkins and Drake as heroes. North is also considered a hero by many Americans. They are like James Bond, licensed by the Crown to kill and cause havoc
in the rest of the world. It is these men and others like them who made Britain and America “great”. Their actions laid and helped to maintain the peace and stability that citizens in their countries enjoy.
It is refugees from nations destabilised by Western interventions, who some Europeans fear will threaten the stability of their own worlds. Fear of a destabilisation by way of immigration helped to get Trump elected. Early in its first term, the DLP won points by playing on the Barbadian fear of Guyanese immigrants. It is interesting how the promise of change and the fear of change are both used to gain support.
People often want change but not too much. A successful modern democracy may give you the appearance of change without the actual disruption. People don’t have to actually see change as long as they believe in it.
On Friday morning, Trump attended a church service to bless his presidency. He had tea with Obama. America has pulled of its most difficult, sacred and stable transition of power yet: a change from a belief in Obama to a belief in Trump, or depending on who you talk to, a fear of Obama to a fear of Trump.
But Western nations are no mere one-man or one-woman show. They are sophisticated theatrical productions. The curtain is not iron but velvet. The leader is the lead actor. The theatrical performance of a politician is as important as his actual performance as a politician, especially in hard times. This is what causes people to have hope or to fear. In hard times, good political performer will cause people to believe in him and doubt their eyes and a bad political performer will have doubters even if he is doing the best job anyone can do.
In 2008, Obama’s campaign slogan was Change You Can Believe In. He was great at offering hope. Hillary? Not so much. And she didn’t offer change. Trump did.
In Barbados’ Western-style democracy, I wonder if there are very many political believers left. It seems like most Bajans are political agnostics. How bad has the culture of vote-buying become? Will the winner of the next election be the party that offers hope, change, or cash?
Adrian Green is a creative communications specialist.
Email: Adriangreen14@gmail.com.