Voter Motivation

Voter motivation which is an act of pulling electors to a cause from a micro to a macro level so they can cast their votes still remains an essential factor in contemporary democratic elections. Understanding the philosophy of voter motivation to garner victory can be a vital tool and a way of triumphing over political opponents. In present-day American elections, parties compete to attract as many voters as they can by using all sorts of tactics at their disposal. Cases of voters turned away for failing to furnish birth certificates, identity cards, and other documents demanded by officials manning election stations in various parts of the U.S, pop up in the media now and then to arouse public opinion. Turning away eligible voters challenges the concept of direct democratic participation. Election irregularities are common in almost every democracy mainly due to humankind’s irrationality and hostile responses become part of the ordinary citizens’ ways of voicing political discontent. Some form of racial prejudice surfaced among black and white voters in the presidential election of 2008 when the Republican Party fielded political heavyweight John McCain against the youthful politician and challenger Barack Obama of the Democratic Party such that former president Jimmy Carter, in the glare of the media, came in support of Obama (Paine et al, 2010).

One tactical measure to enhance voter turnout would be encouraging voters to come to the polling stations to cast their ballots. Libertarian paternalism is famous for its self-conscious influencing application that is known as “Nudge” where attempts are made to move people to a certain direction that elevates their living standards without promises of economic incentives attached. In such cases, what is essential for the voter is not concern for party arrangements but concern for policy results (Kedar, 2005). Another important means would be boosting voter education so that people can have understanding of how the electoral systems work. Broad experimental literature is available that document how the ordinary American citizen is ignorant of the policies and the politicians that shape the nation. According to Kaplan (2008), though not an aberration, the number of Americans having significant knowledge of politics is alarmingly low and below the level required for an advanced democracy such as the U.S.

Political science scholars, borrowing a leaf from the application of bargaining theory, often cite the need for the allocation of distributable goods and resources and the examination of institutional designs as factors that alter voter behavior (Kedar, 2005). To the contrary, other political scientists reference proximity theory which is voter endorsement of the candidate sharing similar political views. Regardless of which theory is right, one major aspect that voters put into consideration when voting for a particular candidate, is the state of the economy. According to Hudson (2010), creating better voting procedures has been shown to increase voter turnout. People often vote according to their social and economic statuses. Improved voter turnout can be realized through civic engagement and through empowering citizens to have a say in political discourses. A reduction in adherence to class prejudice and lessening all sorts of barriers that restrict voter involvement should be top priorities for congressional leaders if they are to receive the trust and support of their constituents. Advancing mobile and internet democracy could also be used to eliminate political misconceptions and allow for the retention of diminishing party loyalty.

References

Hudson, W.E. (2010). American democracy in peril: Eight challenges to America’s future (6^th. ed).  Washington, D.C: CQ Press.

Caplan, B. (2008). Majorities against utility: Implications of the failure of the Miracle of Aggregation. Department of Economics, Center for Study of Public Choice, and Mercatus Center: Fairfax, VA: George Mason University.

Kedar, O. (2005). How voters work around institutions: Policy balancing in staggered elections. Electoral Studies, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan. Retrieved from http://pluto.mscc.huji.ac.il/~okedar/files/ES-06.pdf

                                              

Payne, B.K., Krosnick, J.S., Pasek, J., Lelkes, Akhtar, O. & Tompson, T. (2010). Implicit and explicit prejudice in the 2008 American presidential election. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46, 367–374.

A New Era for Somaliland?

In a recently-concluded presidential election in Somalia's breakaway region of Somaliland, a political party known as Kulmiye (unity in Somali) elected political doyen Ahmed Silanyo as new president after trouncing incumbent Dahir Riyale Kayin by a wide-margin in a free and fair election supervised by international observers. Ahmed Silanyo held several ministerial positions during the reign of the military junta that ruled Somalia with ironfist from 1969 until 1991. A holder of two college degrees obtained from educational institutions in Britain, Mr. Silanyo brings with him a wealth of knowledge and years of experience to Somaliand's stable but economically handicapped peripatetic citizens who have been victims of endemic corruption and gross economic mismanagement since declaring separation from Somalia proper in 1998.

Preceded in office by Dahir Riyale Kahin, a ruthless former colonel in the now-defunct Somali army, Mr. Silanyo inherits an enclave beset by many conflicting factors. A founding member of the Somali National Movement (SNM), Silanyo, in his heydays as a guerilla fighter, brushed shoulders with the likes of the despised warlord General Mohamed Farah Aideed-the man responsible for much of Somalia's unending political entanglement. The acclaimed Hollywood movie Black Hawk Down features the disastrous American intervention in Somalia during Operation Restore Hope in 1993 and the hunt for General Aideed.

Somaliland's quest for separation from Somalia remains an issue of profound importance among Somalilanders who predominantly make the greater population of the former northwest and togdheer regions of Somalia. Despite the election that brought Silanyo to power remaining free and fair, absolutely no voting took place in the expansive Sool, Sanaag, and Cayn regions populated by the Dhulbahante and Warsengeli tribes who belong to the majority Darod clan. In fact, there have been reports of ballot confiscations, armed skirmishes between forces from Hargeisa and those of the Dhulbahante, and cases of defections from Somaliland armed forces.

In broader political science and macro-economics, the notion that the bigger the land mass of a state the better the prospects for economic prosperity seem to evade the thoughts of the feverish and shallow-minded usurper driven by opportunism, greed, and petty politics. Nations like the United States, Canada, Russia, China, Brazil, and India remain a force to reckon with in economics, education, and global politics. China, Russia, and the U.S. enjoy significant veto powers and have to their credit advanced technology, military muscle, and scientific explorations while tiny nations like Djibouti and Eritrea lag behind in all aspects of life. Some economists even call for the removal of Africa's imaginary barriers imposed by colonial powers.

The dismemberment of Somalia into cantons will only benefit those few wielding considerable powers; the rest of the citizenry will undoubtedly live in abject poverty. A case in point is a coverage posted on http://www.wardheernews.com and referenced from IRIN news in which the pathetic living conditions of Hargeisa's marginalized minority Gabooye people are highlighted. Somalilanders consider the Gabooye as inferior, filthy, and outcasts who may not intermingle with nor intermarry other major clans. Despite being Somalis and Muslims, these people are to remain poor, helpless, and ostracized forever.

IRIN, the refugee online news source put the number of Gabooye living in Hargeisa at 8,000 families (48,000 people) mostly living on the fringes of poverty. Since the propspects of the Gabooye securing white-collar or blue-collar jobs have been restricted by ceturies-old Somali social classifications in place, their survival depends on the preservation of skills inherited from their ancestors. What remains left for them include routine house-to-house begging, work as blacksmiths, shoemaking, work in slaughterhouses, work in pathologically and epidemiologically disastrous environments, and anything else deemed unacceptable to the upperclass Somalis.

While we welcome Silanyo's election as president of Somaliland, what is worth comprehending is the importance of the wise saying, "unity is strength." About Silanyo's election, for sure we know one thing about African politics: not one single African leader has been credited with delivering his/her people from the bondage of corruption, mismanagement, embezzlement, clanism, and general decay. It would be an illusion to expect Silanyo to deliver fresh Manna and quail to the poor unrecognized state of Somaliland for now and for the foreseable future.

THE SPIRITS HAVE SPOKEN

The United States, the most technologically advanced nation, politically mature, and the strongest military power in the world, witnessed, on Tuesday the 4th of November, 2008, the most out of the ordinary historical tidal wave when Barack Obama, son of an immigrant black Kenyan father and a white Kansan mother was elected the 44th President. For 232 years, beginning in 1776 when it gained independence from England after a brutal war of independence, “the Land of Milk and Honey” as it is popularly called, the United States has been predominantly ruled by white presidents some of whom owned slaves brought from Africa during the slave trade.

The former Senator from Illinois garnered 364 of the electoral votes and 51% of the popular votes, while his opponent, Republican Presidential contender and Senator, John McCain of Arizona, trailed behind with 162 and 49% of the electoral and popular votes respectively. Delivering a passionate speech that echoed across the globe in his famous political power base and hometown of Chicago in the splendid Grant Park which was packed to the brim with over a 100 thousand estimated spectators, the President-elect who is known for veracity, competency and thoughtfulness, raised many broad issues including the difficult tasks ahead for his presidency.

As a result of the economic meltdown that began with the collapse of gigantic financial institutions, the new President will need a tough economic team to steer the nation to a new direction. As the election results trickled in from the 50 states, territories, and overseas absentee ballots, millions across the country remained glued to their television screens to watch the most spectacular political event in American history. Obama’s rival, Senator John McCain of Arizona, a decorated Vietnam War veteran and a political juggernaut in Washington politics, spoke to his supporters though in a low tone with less applause from his followers. However, Senator McCain heaped praiseD on Barack Obama while at the same time sending his supporters a poignant appeal to support and rally behind the initiatives of the new President-elect. Likewise, the incumbent President of the U.S., George W. Bush relayed a similar message.

On the other hand, world leaders, friends and foes alike, delivered messages of congratulations and felicitations to the man who shook the political conundrum of the world’s only superpower.

According to reports by election observers, political analysts, Washington pundits, media houses, and polls, the titling of balance of power to the side of the Democratic Party was made possible by Obama’s articulate speech delivery and powerful energy, the exceptional strategic planning of the party electioneering team, the trust and discipline demonstrated by his aides and volunteers, the meticulous fundraising skills, the scrupulous thrust of house-to-house visitations, e-mail contacts, telephonic and text messaging and the outstanding communication techniques put into force by the party’s political maestros from day one until the final finish. The swearing of the top stratum of the campaigning team to secrecy coupled with strict observation of the essential schedules culminated in a well organized mix of willing supporters who set the ball rolling day and night without any conceivable difference of opinion or divergence from point of departure.

Despite harangues from his opponent, malicious misinformation circulated by racially prejudiced publications, loquacious radio hosts regurgitating propaganda, deplorably doctored malevolent accusations by racist media houses and incredulous insinuations by powerful individual political misfits, Obama repulsed his foes with sheer force and unbending articulation using double-edged sword of philosophical expressions that transformed him into an immovable barrier and a force to reckon with. Going by the old adage “what man has done man can do”, Obama saw himself as an indispensable pioneer whose intended objectives if effectively managed will open a path for millions of citizens politically decapitated either by color, creed, religion, gender, and national origin. Thus, the election of Obama as the first African-American President of the United States heralds the evolvement of a political platform for all hyphenated racial classes who were denied a place in many secluded, alienated, and subjective arenas reserved for and commandeered by peers of the realms.

In his father’s birthplace nation of Kenya, in Indonesia, Australia, and almost in every habitable landscape of our planet earth, the name Barack Obama received incomparable celebrity status. No doubt many children who were born the night Obama was pronounced the winner, will have their birth certificates decorated with the first, middle, and last names of the most famous man of this century. Barack, Hussein or Obama-three out of the ordinary African and Arabian names that resonate with blessings, courage, knowledge, and other favorable predilections will resonate with any language, topography, and demography. If African-Americans of today carry names like Kwame, Kenyatta, Tunisia, Aaliyah, Kunta, and Kalindi, why not get rid of colonial baptismal names and switch to beautiful African names like Ndebele, Meygag, Koroma, Bakarow, Njagi, Barack, Hussein, and Obama.

In Kenya, a land familiar to the President-elect, witchdoctors, sages, and jugglers scrupulously prognosticated and then promulgated Obama’s ascendancy of the White House long before the pronouncement of the election results.

There was a night when several volcanoes that were to erupt burped and instead secretly spewed aroma that nourished the surrounding fauna and flora; that was the night when many spiritual worshipers communicated with the spirits of the dead to find out their special man in the making; thereafter, it was my turn to fry my favorite bun iyo cambuulo galley to close the chapter for the day ahead.
The day before the election, I received a phone call from a sweet talking mademoiselle who wanted to know whether I had a few hours to volunteer to the cause of democracy. My message to her was “you don’t need me as the message has been clearly spelled out and that it has been confirmed to me by my own ruuxaan that the winner of the election will be a man called Barack Obama.”

African Sangomas uncovered extraordinary microscopic messages intricately splashed across the linings of abdominal and intestinal organs of squirrels, salamander lizards, and porcupines that prophesied the reclamation of black and other minority inalienable rights that had been trampled upon for centuries in the northern hemisphere. Intercommunication between witchdoctors and the spirits of the mountains, oceans, and the crust of the earth yielded fruitful results after painstakingly offering sacrifices and performing rituals that appeased the invisible powerful spirits they so profoundly depend upon for the disclosure of relevant information that are of vital significance to their material and spiritual world.
Pro-life supporters found solace in Obama’s respect for the inviolability of human life- priestly thoughts that were in conformity with their sacerdotal beliefs. Obama received blessings, votes, and unparalleled prayers of African-American voters; a great number of Latino electors threw their weight behind him; women cast their ballots in great numbers for they had votes that were of crucial importance as that of the other opposite gender; adherents of various denominations supplicated against the racially obsessed few while keeping vigil all night long for a once-in-a-lifetime miracle to shake America’s bloated racial divide, and millions of young and elderly whites joined the election fever in support of Barack Obama’s attractive economic and health packages. Many red states switched allegiance to Barack Obama because they found John McCain’s policies were a continuation of George Bush’s failed policies.