Expat Talk: The Republicans' nomination race is an entertaining circus

‘Tis the season of big politics in the US. I have to admit that the race for the Republican (party represented by an elephant) nomination is very entertaining, thanks to presidential aspirant Donald Trump. In the 11th hour, the scramble is on in his own party to get rid of him. People are seemingly becoming desperate.

The party’s directive is for the remaining Republican candidates to fight to win their home states (to deny Trump the necessary delegates needed to win Republican nomination), or ‘save the Republic’ and vote for the democratic presidential nominee who will likely be Hilary Clinton.

I have come to learn that a true Republican would rather die than vote for a Democrat (party represented by a donkey). I find that so sad. I get how our religious, political and social upbringing shape our belief system. What I don’t get is how that blinds one to differing opinions from people of divergent backgrounds. It is downright crippling and we see it played out in the American Congress time and time again.

I did not just learn about the Republicans’ disdain of all things Democrat in this current race. The point was driven home in 2008 when President Barack Obama was first elected. My African life was pleasantly interrupted when I got pregnant and found myself in the US during his historical election. Normally, I would have been watching the event on TV in Nairobi at 4am, but fate got me to Washington DC when the first black US president was going to be sworn in.

I clearly was not going to settle for watching it on television in the US. But you had to have a ticket to stand even a few kilometers away from the swearing-in site. American ‘Members of Parliaments’ traditionally receive tickets to distribute to their constituents. Who did not want a ticket to this historical event? Republicans! My best friend’s ‘MP’ was Republican. She called his office on the eve of inauguration. They indicated they had tickets and delivered two tickets to us.

I was delighted that my then two-month-old son was going to grow up in the age of Obama, but also sad that people could refuse to participate in an historical event because the main act was not Republican.

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