A Mini Interpretive Dictionary of American Elections Vocabulary. Here Follow A Text As Well As A Sub-Text

There is nothing more boring than dictionaries. They are not for bedtime reading. Learners reach for them only when obliged to verify a word. This blog posting is ipso facto boring. But necessary to explain, selectively, the American lexicon in this year of electioneering. Here follows my mini political dictionary of American elections oratory.

"Live Free or Die:" It is the motto of the State of New Hampshire. A liberal state, known as a "blue color State." Were it conservative, it would have been categorized "a red color State." Like most of the southern states which still call "the Civil war," the "war between the States," with a capital letter (S).

"The Hawkeye State:" Reference is made here to the state of Iowa. A rural state in the Midwest. Where 64% of its inhabitants are evangelicals. You might as well call the evangelicals the near equivalent of the Muslim Brotherhood. Except that they do not engage in physical violence. That is where the primary elections for both the Democrats and the Republicans are first waged.

"The Primaries:" Are intended as boxing matches and are held between the multiple candidates of the two main parties. Determining the viability, meaning "the electability" of a candidate. Leading the winner to be the party nominee. Weeding out the political chaff from the wheat. Like giving the American voter a test run of a new car before committing to buying it.

"An Establishment Candidate:" Is someone who had prior political experience. As a senator, a governor, or an ambassador. This year, if you are an establishment candidate, you are not a favorite of those newly -participating in the elections process. Call it a generational gap; an educational gap; or a regional gap. Gaps here are the sluices (sliding gates) where rage about government pours out. This year in America, is definitely a year of rage.

"A Future To Believe In:" A mantra by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Fashioned after Obama's winning political motto of 2008 "Yes We Can," and "Change You Can Trust." Reference is to the general perception that "Government lies." An innuendo about the CIA fabricating the news about Saddam's ownership of Weapons of Mass Destruction.

"Projecting High Turn Out:" Refers to total uncertainty about the percentage of those eligible to vote casting their ballots. In Iowa, the percentage of youth (defined in America as between the ages of 18 and 30) who stayed at home in recent elections ((caucus) days) was a whopping 84%.

"A Razor-Edge Margin:" In the American system, a fraction of one percentage of voters for a candidate satisfies for putting the winner on top. Winner takes all. Avoids the Italian or French fractional representation. At the Iowa caucuses, Hillary Clinton won by 49.8% caucus-chosen delegates; her opponent, Senator Bernie Sanders, got 49.6%. A razor thin difference. To cover that defeat, Sanders called it "virtual tie." Made the Hillary camp laugh saying: "There is no such term. A win is a win is a win."

"Caucusing:" A special form of politically choosing through a meeting of an elective party committee. Caucuses are all about local politics. Giving the nation a pre-warning of what might emerge through national elections for president this November. A form of participatory democracy.

More on "Caucusing:" Is it fit for the Arab world? Such as in Egypt of Tunisia? No!! Primary reason: America began from localities; the Arab States began from centralism.

"Identity Politics:" Refer primarily to age, not race. Identity is with issues, not with minority interest and majority interest. Determination by age keeps America on a consistent political course, regardless of the changing demographics. This helps political stability, since by 2030, the whites in America shall slide downward to 45% of the populace. "Equality Before the Law," as based on the enduring Constitution with its amendments, is America's governance safety net.

"Conservative versus Liberal:" Terms primarily used by contenders for the Democratic Party nomination. Now, with the elimination process, it is between Hillary and Bernie. Pushed Hillary to the left, forcing her to call herself "progressive centrist." Whatever this means. Her new appellations are not in her favor. Sanders has stayed, for the past 20 years, his ideological course for "a socialist revolution." But causing the Clinton camp to accuse him of "sloganeering." Bill Clinton came to his wife's rescue saying: "Talk is cheap. America needs Hillary. She gets things done."

"A Socialist Revolution:" A political description of Sander's political message. Used against him by the Clinton campaign. In essence, the Sanders message is nothing but continuity from the days of Franklin Roosevelt. It means no turning away from the system of social security and of strict banking regulation. But Sanders pushes the envelope further. In the direction of free education for all. (In Egypt, this is called the Taha Hussein philosophy: "Education is as essential as water and air." 

"Robotic:" A robot is pre-programmed. Nothing comes out except what is put in. An insult addressed to Hillary (by the Republicans), and to Marco Rubio (by his Republican opponents, and democratic haters).

"From Day One:" A cliche promise by Republican contenders, promising swift action once in the Oval Office. Too impractical for implementation; provides high expectations which threaten the credibility of a new president. The occupant of the Oval Office is not a push-button executive. Hemmed in by checks and balances and by precedents.

"With all due respect:" Watch out!! Your opponent is about to tear your views apart. It is only a facilitator to a determined denial of the accuracy of what that political opponent stands for.

"My competitor would make a great vice president:" A put down by an opponent seeking the presidency. Wanting to say: "My adversary comes below me in authority and stature. I am way ahead."

"This is an awesome non-answer:" A description of the alleged stupidity of an opponent. Generally used in political debates, or for a refusal to answer a question from the media.

"Make America Great Again:" A mantra used by Trump to explain that he is ready to use non-conventional means to conventional American ends of supremacy in a turbulent world. So even when defeated in the Iowa caucus, he prided himself on being new to the game of politics, but ready to rule the U.S. as an accomplished "deal maker." His book, "The Art of the Deal" has been made by his campaign as equivalent to Chairman Mao's Red Book. Yet when defeated in Iowa, the Iowa newspapers headlined: "Dead Clown Walking."

"Donald Trump Isn't Real:" Headlined David Brooks, a nationally-acclaimed New York Times writer. Here are his words against Trump, the champion of banning Muslims from America:

"Trump's whole campaign was based on success breeding success, the citing of self-referential poll victories to justify his own candidacy. How does he justify a campaign built entirely around his own mastery? Can an aggressor like him respond gracefully in the days ahead to self-created failure? His concession speech was an act of pathetic self-delusion."

"You Can't Be a Moderate and a Progressive:" Personally I don't perceive a big difference between the meaning of these two terms. But this is what was said by Sanders in an attack on Hillary Clinton's political philosophy. In the now contested state for a primary win in the liberal state of New Hampshire. Sander's territory where he has what is called in American political lingo "neighborly advantage, home state advantage." Sanders is from Vermont, but his home state borders New Hampshire to the west. Constituting one of "the blue states" of the great region north east of the US, called "New England." With a city in New Hampshire called "Lebanon." 

"I am not a politician:" Stands for freshness, innocent of grid-lock chaos in Washington, D.C., and of lying to the public. Fury against the so-called establishment politics has shaken the 2016 races. The New York Times of February 2, headlined: "Electorate Divided in deep disaffection."

"Some of my friends are Muslims:" watch out for what follows. Islamophobia. That is where leadership steps in. For the protection of American values of diversity, and also for concern for American security. On February 3, President Obama visited the Islamic Society of Baltimore mosque. Warned Americans not to be "bystanders of bigotry."

What Does All the Above Mean? Democracy has no universally agreed definition. It is a product, that  sprouts in various flavors out of the soil of culture. Hence the variables in its political expressions. As evidenced by the foregoing. By the way: Iowa is an American State. Not equivalent to the Egyptian word meaning OK!!

These are doctrinal differences. But there are other differences of a structural nature between an American model of democracy, and, say, an Egyptian model.

In Iowa, Jeb Bush spent $5200, per elector. These are not direct payments. They are largely the cost of staff by the thousands and of media ads.

It is impossible for an Egyptian candidate for public office to spend that kind of money. An Egyptian candidate might offer a pound of fresh meat or of sugar. And for that little gift to a needy public, his Egyptian opponents and media would scream "corruption."

Furthermore, it is unthinkable for an Egyptian candidate to have his family, including wife and mother to join him or her publicly on the stump. Again to Jeb. His mother does, to the point of the media spelling his "momentum" as "momENTUM." And Hillary has her husband, former President Bill Clinton next to her behind a microphone.

Which of the two parties are expected to get the Oval Office as of January 2017? The Democrats. Hillary, not Sanders. He is too shrill, a bit too far to the left. The American electorate tends to be at the center. Hillary, a woman who is expected to follow Obama. From the first ever black President, to the first ever woman President. The voice of both experience and continuity.

Why did I embark on the perilous journey of putting together this mini dictionary? Perilous, because every paragraph supra is subject to challenge. But it is worth it. Because it has an ideological sub-text. Namely that "democracy" cannot be one single paradigm.

Like "The Seven Veils of Eve," you cannot measure democracy outside America by an American yardstick. Applicable also to measuring the observance of human rights in the New Egypt. For the New Egypt is still at: "Sorry For Your Inconvenience, We Are Under Construction." Democracy, including various forms of respect for human rights, is the product of its own environment.

For the purpose of understanding through the study of contrasts. Here are two examples: American media has for long become enamored with severely criticizing Egypt's security forces clearing the sit-ins in public squares in Cairo (Rabaa and Al-Nahdha).

That was in August 2013, following the removal (in fact the recall) of the Muslim Brotherhood reign of Islamic fascism. Compare this to the removal by American federal forces of the illegal occupants of the prairies of Oregon. And remember that Rabaa and Al-Nahdha are not prairies. They are public squares in a very crowded capital of 12 million citizens.

And while you are it, why not examine the way the Egyptian prosecution and judiciary are handling the opposition to the State of law and order of El-Sisi government? In that examination, compare it to an America rightly stressed by 9/11. Erecting the infamous Guantanamo, where the Muslim victims of that dragnet benefited by no due process!!

As Americans, let us never forget: At Guantanamo, the great American values were submerged under the flood waters of two contrived fictions: That Guantanamo is not American soil!! Really? So why do I see on it flying high, not the Cuban flag, but our American flag?

And that at Guantanamo, the Geneva Conventions are considered obsolete and, in any case, not applicable to those Muslim detainees!! You must be kidding!! So why do we recall those conventions when a group of American sailors lost their way recently in the Gulf, were arrested in Iranian waters, and videotaped by their Iranian captors, prior to their release?

Please get real!! The world is one!! So should be the word!! Because words have consequences!! Globally speaking!!

Life lessons are recalled if taught through contrasts and comparisons. Someone said: "The evil in this world is the creation of those who make a distinction between the self and other." Quoted by David Brooks from a nameless another.