English original of column just published in Japanese by Nikkei Business, drawing lessons from outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's promises for Kamala Harris and Donald Trump
I take your point but they cannot make a manifesto as in UK since everything depends on congress. And what about the small pledges?
See my comment in FT:
"
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I wouldn’t criticize American politicians for scattered initiatives since they are a product of their system of elections.
Only a few states are “Battlegrounds”, where a miniscule number of voters can tip the balance. It makes perfect sense to use the obvious levers of influence: For or against fracking in Pennsylvania, tax free tips in Nevada, for or against Palestinians in Michigan and so on. The affected groups are so small that promises can easily be broken when the election is won.
Dropping the electoral college and select presidents based on the popular vote would be a big step for the Americans. Campaigning would have to be performed over the whole country. Current election advisers would be totally lost, a good thing.
Values, schmalues as Tom Lehrer said. Or something like it."
I take your point but they cannot make a manifesto as in UK since everything depends on congress. And what about the small pledges?
See my comment in FT:
"
Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://www.ft.com/tour.
https://www.ft.com/content/cd5f86b4-9d83-43c5-8474-ed4ebc632de6#comments-anchor
I wouldn’t criticize American politicians for scattered initiatives since they are a product of their system of elections.
Only a few states are “Battlegrounds”, where a miniscule number of voters can tip the balance. It makes perfect sense to use the obvious levers of influence: For or against fracking in Pennsylvania, tax free tips in Nevada, for or against Palestinians in Michigan and so on. The affected groups are so small that promises can easily be broken when the election is won.
Dropping the electoral college and select presidents based on the popular vote would be a big step for the Americans. Campaigning would have to be performed over the whole country. Current election advisers would be totally lost, a good thing.
Values, schmalues as Tom Lehrer said. Or something like it."