Americans do have a choice

THE last night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on Thursday electrified American voters with its line-up of great speakers. From Reverend William Barber III, to Khizer Khan and finally the presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, all called for unity, compassion, inclusion and cooperation among all Americans.
This was in stark contrast to the Republican National Convention held a week earlier in Cleveland, Ohio, where the speakers brought out the racism, misogyny and xenophobia that have come to be representative of the party founded by President Abraham Lincoln.
Presidential candidate Donald Trump stressed again how if he is elected president in November he will insist that most Muslim immigrants be barred from the US. In his isolationist worldview, he believes that building a wall between the US and Mexico will keep out all of those criminals and drug dealers that he claims are flooding into the US. Nothing is said of the hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries, both illegal and legal, who pick the fruit on American farms, help build homes, office buildings and hotels, and who generally do the lowly paid work that better educated Americans shun. Ironically, Trump has admitted that many immigrants work in his hotels, but that’s another story.
Retired four-star general John Allen electrified the audience when he said that all Americans must be respected and included in building a better nation, and warned of the grave danger that Trump poses to the future of the country.
“My fellow Americans, I stand with you tonight as a retired four-star general of the United States Marine Corps, and I am joined by my fellow generals and admirals, and with these magnificent young veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan,” he said.
“The stakes are enormous. We must not, we could not stand on sidelines. The election can carry us to a future of unity and hope or to a dark place of discord and fear. We must choose hope,” continued Allen.
“Every American in uniform, in the White House or at home, we must be a force for unity in America, for a vision that includes all of us... Every man and woman, every race, every ethnicity, every faith and creed, including the Americans who are our precious Muslims. And every gender and every gender orientation,” said the retired general.
But it was the short speech by Pakistani-American Khizr Khan that really touched the hearts of all watching the convention. He spoke eloquently of his son Humayun Khan who was killed in an explosion in Iraq in 2004 while serving in the US military. He said that America had given him and his family the opportunity to start from scratch and benefit from the American ideal of upward mobility and freedom to pursue your visions. Yet it was his sarcastic remarks aimed at Trump that got the most applause.
“Donald Trump, you are asking Americans to trust you with our future. Let me ask you: Have you even read the US Constitution?” he asked while pulling out a pocket edition of the document. “In this document, look for the words ‘liberty’ and ‘equal protection of law’.”
Clinton in her speech stressed that Americans would only be able to get ahead and build a better future for everyone by working together; throwing a punch at Trump who has several times said that he alone will be able to solve many of the problems currently facing the nation.
“We have to decide whether we all will work together so we all can rise together. Our country’s motto is e pluribus unum: Out of many, we are one. Will we stay true to that motto? Well, we heard Donald Trump’s answer last week at his convention. He wants to divide us — from the rest of the world, and from each other. He’s betting that the perils of today’s world will blind us to its unlimited promise.
“We will rise to the challenge, just as we always have. We will not build a wall. Instead, we will build an economy where everyone who wants a good paying job can get one,” she continued.
“And we’ll build a path to citizenship for millions of immigrants who are already contributing to our economy! We will not ban a religion. We will work with all Americans and our allies to fight terrorism.”
American voters face a clear choice between someone who has vast experience as a senator and secretary of state, and someone who has never been in politics let alone held a public office. Trump is tapping into the discontent and disgust that many Americans, especially those struggling with unemployment or low-paying jobs, have with traditional politicians. He thinks that his position as an outsider will help achieve more things than Clinton ever could. But as Clinton pointed out, who would the American electorate like to have in the Oval Office during a crisis? A man that gets angry over a Tweet or a woman like Clinton who visited 120 countries when she headed the State Department?
Come November I hope that voters will vote overwhelmingly for Clinton and say “You’re Fired!” to Trump, who should never have left reality television.

n The writer is a Saudi journalist based in Brazil.