No Top Candidate Punctuates the Obvious

When it comes to predicting which football team is going to win the coveted title, the yardstick used to measure the potential for success inevitably comprises a combination of raw brawn and fitness plus a real presence of skill, speed and stamina. By the law of averages the team that possesses these match winning qualities will be most likely be the team that will win the title. 

Conversely for the less capable team these essential qualities will unfortunately be lacking and with it the very real prospect of failure. You just can’t simply enter the arena half‐cocked or less and hope to win whatever is in the offering and take it home as your prize. You must have the essential qualities before you can even think of joining in the fray.

The same analogy can be applied to the political arena in these United States. Though the election process in the US is considerably more complex and much more involved than say the election process of India which is the largest democratic country on the planet they are both democracies where election processes are based on freedom of choice.

No doubt, both election processes involve highly skilled and intelligent political candidates to field but the measure of the strengths and weaknesses of the parties are reflected in a very telling aspect – the number of candidates involved. It stands to reason that the more candidates there are, the more there is divisiveness from within and this is the telling sign of an inner weakness.

This measure of a political party’s strength or weakness alone speaks volumes about the nature, composition and effectiveness of any party whether in the US or anywhere else for that matter. The Republicans have 17 of their compatriots who have announced their intentions of running the race for the presidency. It is not clear yet who are saying the “ayes” or the “nays” for these vying candidates.

For the Democrats, there is only one very sure candidate plus a yet unannounced bid by another. There is no proliferation of candidates and no heated remarks have been exchanged publicly to and fro between the contending candidates unlike the GOP candidates who are already and literally at each other’s throats.

First of all the numbers involved in both parties running for the nation’s top job, clearly reflect a sense of loyalty and therefore unity, that members have for their party and by implication for their people and their country. Why? Simply because unity connotes respect, friendship and hence regard for members. Including the element of love for the party and country in the equation is also valid. 

Secondly, the discrepancy in numbers reveals the strength or lack of it in the policies, procedures and rules of the two parties involved. Where policies rules and procedures are strong, they have a unifying effect because every party member believes in their efficacy and therefor validity. They will therefore readily cast aside their personal convictions and personal preferences and follow them.

Perhaps the third aspect that portrays a party’s fitness to succeed and therefore to win is sheer physical, mental and moral strength. I say physical in the sense that members display sobriety because this is the hallmark of great men parties and nations. The absence of sobriety is disunity and chaos and woe to us when a party wins with a belly full of insobriety 

Mental strength is essential for good governance especially in the skills for promulgating laws and policies. Moral strength is a close companion that strengthens lawmakers to think morally so that the laws and policies they compile and authorise are in tune with the feel of the universe. 

In the face of the three yardsticks mentioned above, it is abundantly clear that on the face of it the Democrats win hands down on the first, second and third. The Republicans on the other hand lose hands up by fielding 17 (count probably to continue), that reflects the tell‐tale sign of disunity, disloyalty, weakness and an inability to win the race.

To compound the problem especially for the 17 Republican candidates, it’s not all that simple to take part in the political race. There’re campaign funds to worry about, state support, party nominations at conventions and the national elections plus others in between. 

All these are very involved and complex hurdles to clear before even a glimpse of the topmost part of the White House comes into view. The only likely candidates that can emerge as winners from the milieu maybe a filthy rich candidate that can barge his way to the top post and it may well be Trump himself! If that happens, things may get pretty heated up with Hilary contending from the other side.