Irish Examiner view: Ardern shows the real value of  solidarity

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is the polar opposite of US President Donald Trump. Picture: AP 

Around 20m people have already voted in what has been recognised as the most important election in recent American history. It is unnervingly significant for the rest of the world too, especially if the incumbent defies the polls, as he did in 2016, and is re-elected.

Several states, including Wisconsin, Michigan, and Florida have already passed 20% of their 2016 vote, indicating that a deliberately polarised population is determined to be heard. That determination is hardly supported as it should be as there are far too many reports of voters having to queue for hours — up to 10 at some polling stations — to vote.

This contrived ineptitude has been described as voter suppression, an argument hard to dismiss in the context of the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to undermine the system. Nevertheless, experts have predicted a record turnout. One suggests that about 150m of the 240m people entitled to vote will do so, the highest turnout since 1908 when Republican William Howard Taft defeated three-time Democratic nominee William Jennings Bryan.

It is premature, it would certainly be unwise, to speculate about the reasons behind this renewed interest in democracy in the world’s superpower — still— but every significant election between now and November 3 will be seen as a weathervane of sorts. Elections in Egypt, British Columbia, Bolivia, and Chile may indicate whether the swing to the right continues or whether the majority, silent or otherwise, have had enough of one extremist or another.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, right, is congratulated by her partner Clarke Gayford following her victory speech to Labour Party members at an event in Auckland, New Zealand.

This weekend New Zealand re-elected Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, the polar opposite of Trump. Ardern’s Labour Party — Trump supporters might call them Marxists — won with 49.1%, the highest vote in more than five decades. Her hard-and-early reaction to Covid-19 was regarded as decisive in her win. Arden has opened talks with the Greens to explore involving them in her next government though she can easily rule without their support.

That empowering sense of collegiality or the timeless wisdom of fostering solidarity have not constrained Trump’s bombast-as-bravura persona or policies. His rejection of the Paris climate accords, his attacks on the United Nations, the World Health Organisation and the World Trade Organisation are examples, as are his reversals on Cuba and Iran.

These are the rules-based watchdogs that small countries like ours rely on to counter larger, more powerful entities who might use that power to dominate neighbours.

That possibility, already evolving, was behind Sweden’s decision announced last week to boost military spending by up to 40% over the next four years. Growing tensions between Europe and Russia, especially in the Baltic Sea, are behind this commitment of almost €3bn to bolster that country’s defences between now and 2025.

Swedes, like most Europeans and Americans, might prefer to use those resources in a more socially-positive way but by undermining the all-for-one solidarity of the West America, under Trump, has given momentum to the kind of militarisation that has all too often ended disastrously.