How naive is it for us to accept political goods wholesale, and at face value! So you may ask, what has the upcoming US presidential election got to do with Hong Kong? To answer this, we must first understand that geopolitical issues never exist in isolation, in one locale, hence the prefix “geo-”. The social unrest we have experienced of late is a classic example of the extent of destruction brought about by one regime exerting political power over another. Violent protesters in different US cities are called “thugs” while ours are called heroes. Hong Kong’s retail business was brought to a standstill in the last six months of 2019 as a result.
Every four years, six months before the US presidential election, we are glued to the television as intricate international politics plays out. A political commentator on CNN on Saturday afternoon said the determining factor in the November election is nothing else but economic recovery, as in whether voters think Donald Trump or Joe Biden can handle the US economy better in the next four years. He continued to say that this election is not about character, integrity, honesty or human decency. This is where I have a problem.
It is like assigning grades to students even before administering the test. Who is to say who will gets an A or C, or who will perform and who won’t? Deciding who will be able to revive the US economy is pure guesswork.
However, in all the other subjects, Trump has already failed miserably and it is for the whole wide world to see.
Philip S.K. Leung, Pok Fu Lam
Published: 1:30am, 26 Aug, 2020