E-mail scandal ruins US democracy myths

Source:Global Times Published: 2016/7/27 0:03:21

The Democratic National Convention that kicked off on Monday is supposed to create momentum for the formal nomination of Hillary Clinton as Democratic presidential contender. However, the latest release of nearly 20,000 e-mails by WikiLeaks dropped an explosive exposé of scandals in the Democratic primary as well as the hypocrisy of Clinton as a politician. 

The batch of bombshell e-mails reveals that the Clinton campaign colluded with high-ranking Democratic officials in the nominating process, participated in "money laundering" and manipulated media coverage.

This can almost prove Clinton is really a "crook" as Donald Trump called her.

This "e-mail gate" exposes the dirty side of US democracy under a glossy cover. The minority at the top of the pyramidal system willfully manipulate resources, playing with the support of the public and fans.

The new e-mail scandal is devastating enough to bury Clinton's presidential dream and political career. Her morality has become a focus this time.

However, the actual consequences may not be as severe as expected.

It will shame Clinton, affect her campaign, but eventually the Democrats and Clinton will manage to survive the crisis.

With the endogenous problems and defects of the US democratic system gradually coming to the surface, the Americans have become clearer that the US system is rotten. But they have tolerated it and accepted that it functions with problems.

Some US elites advocate that even if there are many problems with the US system, it still has fewer flaws than any other systems in the world. The varied political scandals have had no effect on their sense of superiority.

This as the mainstream ideology in US society has exerted a subtle influence on many Americans and even has further affected a great number of people outside the US, creating worship for the US system among people in developing countries. Even in China, some refuse to accept any criticism from Chinese against the US.

It still takes time to answer the question of whether the problems in the US system are  fatal to the country's destiny and whether they will affect US global competitiveness. Believing the American-style democratic system can guarantee eternal prosperity is shortsighted and naïve.  

The new e-mail scandal indicates that American-style democracy has deviated from genuine democracy. The democratic system stimulated the fast development of the US and Europe in the beginning, but now these countries can only maintain themselves. As they are the models of democracy, some developing countries tried to imitate them, but have been plagued with problems.

This e-mail gate has exploded many myths of American democracy. Perhaps there is no magical system at all. All systems must keep reforming and self-renewing so as to develop.

Posted in: Editorial

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