A political train running until voters stop it

KANG TAE-HWA
The author is a Washington correspondent of the JoongAng Ilbo.

The thermometer hit minus 30 degrees Celsius (minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit). The icy wind was sharp. As the wind chill approached minus 40 degrees Celsius, the scheduled rallies were canceled one after another. In Iowa, where the whole world was frozen, the presidential election train set out, just like the movie “Snowpiercer” released 11 years ago.

The message of Snowpiercer is simple. They risked their lives to fight at the words of Wilford’s frontman Mason, who said, “The seats are fixed from the beginning,” before ending with the line, “We are all one.” However, this cliché narrative is missing in U.S. politics in 2024.

So far, the most likely scenario for the November presidential election is the contest between former and current presidents. The two criticize and attack each other. In particular, they argue that if the other candidate is elected, “democracy will be destroyed.” For Americans who have to choose between the two, this means that the end of democracy is forewarned regardless of the outcome.

When I brought this up to Professor Steffen Schmidt of Iowa State University, he sighed and said that was the sad truth. He said that politics that should curb human aggression and solve problems actually promotes and weaponizes hatred.

And he continued familiar words. The Republican Party cannot control the legislature but has enough seats to stop the Congress, so unless Democrats compromise and negotiate, the government function would become paralyzed. If this situation continues, politics will have to leave the Congress and move to courts and streets. His words are surprisingly true even if I replace the two major parties in the U.S. with Korea’s two major parties — the Democratic Party and the People Power Party.

Americans also share the same view. In a poll, three-quarters of Americans said they did not want a rematch between Trump and Biden. In another poll, more than half of Biden’s supporters said they voted for Biden so that Trump is not elected, not because they liked Biden.

In the presidential election, some voters choose the next worst, not the best or the next best. Schmidt said it could become an election where voters choose a candidate who will harm the U.S. and the world less. Now, he added that the American presidential election is neither cool nor great, and it was the honest reality.

The movie “Snowpiercer” ends when the passengers on board realize the reality and stop the train by themselves. The train called politics continues to run with all kinds of contradictions until voters stop the train.