Holiday mode

The United States is entering the annual holiday season with a series of celebrations which produce an overlapping jumble of manifestations. Pumpkins of all shapes and sizes have ushered in Halloween on Oct.31, the first in line. Pumpkins are hollowed out and faces carved into one wall. Lighted candles gleam from within the eyes, nose and mouths during evenings when the pumpkins are placed in household windows. Children sometimes wearing costumes and armed with bags trail around their home neighbourhoods ringing doorbells and asking for “trick or treat,” a handful of sweets in exchange for a song or recitation.

The origin of Halloween is from an ancient Celtic festival which marked the end of summer and the harvest. The tradition was later merged with Christian observances of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, when the evening before was called “All Hallows’ Eve.”

Next comes the national holiday of Thanksgiving at the end of November, falling on the 27th this year. The modern event celebrates the first thanksgiving celebrated by English colonists who landed in 1620 at a location which became Plymouth in Massachusetts. After enduring a harsh winter and losing half their number to disease, the colonists celebrated the first thanksgiving in 1621 with local natives who helped them to plant crops and hunt. The feast became an official national holiday in 1941.

The feast is celebrated with a family and friends dinner composed of foods considered native to North America such as turkey, potatoes, yams, corn (maize), cranberries, and pumpkin pie although there are regional and communal variations. For example, those of Italian background might add pasta while those of Indian origin could include nan and vegetable dishes.

The third holiday is, of course, Christmas on Dec.25 which has developed into an over-the-top “American” practice for which neighbourhood shops, grocery stores and malls begin advertising in October or even earlier. And this “American” style of Christmas has become a commercial extravaganza, gone global and overtaken traditional church observations.

These three national holidays have overshadowed the country’s current crisis. The federal government has closed down with only essential services operational. The shut-down which began on Oct.1 has been caused by the refusal of Democrat and Republican lawmakers to pass the budget. Democrats want to extend expiring tax credits that make health insurance cheaper for millions and reversal of Donald Trump’s cuts to Medicaid, a government healthcare programme used by millions of elderly, disabled and low-income people. Reopening the government depends on the two parties in the Senate coming up with a deal that Trump will sign.

Thousands of federal employees are staying at home or are working without pay. Flights have been delayed or cancelled due to the shortage of air traffic controllers. US military men missed their pay check until the Trump administration found funds to pay them. Social Security and Medicare cheques are still being distributed but many national parks and museums have closed.

Despite the shutdown, Trump travelled to Malaysia, Japan and South Korea where he was set to meet China’s President Xi Jingping for discussions on tariffs which Trump imposed on Chinese imports.

The shutdown could continue for some time as the US political system has been locked in deep polarisation since the end of the 1990s. The polarisation is both ideological and practical and has made it difficult if not impossible for the parties to come together and negotiate compromises. Polarisation has infected members of the populace who have come to see those in the rival party as antagonists. The independent Pew Research Centre defines US political polarization as “the vast and growing gap between liberals and conservatives,” basically liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans although there are liberals and conservatives in both parties.

Meanwhile, Trump has exploited and deepened divisions by dispatching national guard troops to Los Angeles, and San Francisco California. Washington, D.C., Memphis, Tennessee, and Chicago, Illinois. Portland, Oregon, is also on his list. All these deployments have been in cities with Democrat mayors in states with Democrat governors. He claims the troops have been sent to protect federal property against demonstrators protesting deportations of migrants and fight crime. The latter justification is nonsense as outsiders know nothing about local crimes and criminals and cannot do the job.

Analysts argue that Trump is not the sole or main cause of polarisation although he is doing his best to exploit this long-term process. Among the contributors have been social media, the take over of mainstream media by partisan moguls, dramatic differences in levels of education between elites and the resentful majority, and widespread beliefs that citizens and their needs are ignored by politicians as soon as they win office. While these elements of alienation have been present for decades, they have combined to reach crisis levels which no one is addressing as did Barack Obama when he tried to promote healing and unity during his years as president from 2009-2017. His efforts were reversed by the election of Trump in 2016 and 2024.

Photo: TNS