American exceptionalism versus Australian distinctiveness
Sep 22, 2024
The presidential election campaign that is underway in the US is full of hoopla, hysteria, loopy hats and fatuous slogans. It is somewhat gratifying, therefore, to note that, here, in Australia, we are above all that nonsense. But (one must ask) is our political system in Australia really that much better than in America? And are our political mindsets really more attuned to refined Aussie nuances?
The US and Australia are approximately the same size geographically, but Australia’s population is less than one tenth of that of America. The relative significance of the two countries on the international world stage could, therefore, be considered to be commensurate with their populations – Australia is merely a bit player.
Nevertheless, it could be said that the current US education system is grossly American-centric and lacks a cohesive world view, resulting in a facile understanding of international politics. Many Americans tend to regard those on the political left as “Socialists” and little different from “Communists”, and they demonise such ideologies as the realm of despots and dictators. They consider that the American polity lies at a comfortable central point between the two extremities of Communism (on the Left) and Fascism (on the Right); both ends of the continuum are equally evil in their view, whereas the American (middle) way is the only true “democracy” and is what the rest of the world should aspire to. Given their limited perspective, Americans tend to view their own Democratic Party as “the Left” (whereas the rest of the world sees it as Right of Centre), and they see the Republican Party as slightly to the “Right” of the Democrats, but still in a “democratic” middle ground (whereas the rest of the world sees it as “far Right”). It is unfortunate that such a powerful nation is so insular and blinkered with respect to political ideology, and that Conservatives (and particularly the “Religious Right”) have such tight control of America’s political reins.
In this vein, it is interesting to note that recent research has found that low intelligence in childhood can be a predictor of increased prejudice in adulthood, and this effect is largely mediated via conservative ideology. The result? Prejudice seems to be more common in those who hold right-wing views than those of other political persuasions. “Socially conservative ideologies tend to offer structure and order. Unfortunately, many of these features can also contribute to prejudice,” suggests Professor Gordon Hodson of Brock University, Ontario. This phenomenon, in combination with a general bias whereby people of low intelligence mistakenly assess their cognitive ability as greater than it actually is (known as the Dunning-Kruger Effect), has, it seems, led to the overweening dominance of ultra-conservatism in many advanced industrialised countries today. But not always in the same way.
The situation in Australia is, of course, a little different – but not much better. Many Australians tend to view politics the same way they follow football – they have little interest in the detail of policy or ideology, but they support teams/parties based on shallow preferences for star players, promotional stunts and media characterisations. Major blunders, such as a failure to nominate candidates to the Electoral Commission for local government elections within the allocated time-frame, are but fleeting fiascos, and will be quickly forgotten.
Naïveté, it seems, knows no national boundaries.
Nevertheless, in truth, the American political system is significantly different from our own – and yet we both call ourselves democracies. One major distinction is the fact that Americans vote for their political leaders, whereas we do not. Hence celebrity-status and household names are crucially important over there – to the point where they tend to dominate the election process. Even in the Australian media, the current battle between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris far overshadows the daily squabbling between Peter Dutton and Anthony Albanese – and the skirmishing has become very personal. Few Americans can even name the Australian prime minister.
The US president is both head of state and head of government, and is elected every four years by a convoluted process whereby the people’s vote is “interpreted” by the state-aligned “Electoral College” which then, in turn, appoints the president. As a consequence, some American states have more say than others in this process, and the president can wield significantly more political power than his Australian counterpart, once elected.
We should, however, bear in mind that the Australian head of state is, in reality, the king of the United Kingdom (who then appoints his Australian representative, the governor general, on the advice of the Australian prime minister). As for the Australian head of government (that is, the prime minister) – well, he is elected by his political party. Neither are elected by direct vote of the Australian population, and neither have anywhere near the power of their American counterpart.
Should Australia vote in some future referendum to become a republic, the question as to the election or appointment of the head of state would become all-important, and we would need to consider carefully whether or not we would wish to emulate the American example where famous actors, footballers or TV personalities often move into the political arena, purely because they are already well-known.
The differences between the two countries are further exacerbated by the fact that the Australian electoral system for its members of parliament involves compulsory and preferential voting, whereas in the US it is non-compulsory and first-past-the-post. The Australian system is consequently (I would suggest) significantly more democratic and the results more representative of the wishes of the people.
And then we need to consider the benefits of living under Australia’s excellent Medicare system, whereas the US is practically the only developed country in the world without a system of universal healthcare, and a significant proportion of its population lacks health insurance.
So the question of exceptionalism versus distinctiveness almost inevitably comes down to national pride. As for me – I prefer Australia.
Adrian Lipscomb
Adrian Lipscomb is a retired lawyer, travel-writer, academic and political observer. During the 1980s he worked in policy areas with the Department of Defence in Canberra and with the Joint Intelligence Organisation (JIO – now called the “Defence Intelligence Organisation”). In the mid-1990s he volunteered in the Solomon Islands, and was the co-ordinating author of the 1998 edition of the Lonely Planet Guide to PNG. In 2015 he was awarded the OAM. He currently lives in Urunga, NSW.
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