Note to America: Don’t Be So Sure You’ve Put Trump Behind You
Monday 31st October 2016,
I’ve been living in Britain for the last year and have returned to the United States to cover the election from a small town in Indiana—with the experience of Brexit on my mind.
The view from Middletown: 'Trump speaks to us in a way other people don’t'
Thursday 27th October 2016,
, Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian
From the vantage point of the second floor of Chris Hiatt’s print shop, the prospects for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign do not look so bad. Every two weeks the Citizens of Delaware County for Good Government, a conservative group, meets here primarily to discuss campaigning on local issues.
Father backs Trump, son backs Clinton: 'We agree to disagree' - video
Thursday 27th October 2016,
America’s Refusal to Control Firearms Is Killing Teens at an Absurd Rate
Monday 24th October 2016,
Every day, on average, seven kids and teens are shot dead in America. Election 2016 will undoubtedly prove consequential in many ways, but lowering that death count won’t be one of them. To grapple with fatalities on that scale—2,500 dead children annually—a candidate would need a thoroughgoing plan for dealing with America’s gun culture that goes well beyond background checks. In addition, he or she would need to engage with the inequality, segregation, poverty, and lack of mental health resources that add up to the environment in which this level of violence becomes possible. Think of it as the huge pile of dry tinder for which the easy availability of firearms is the combustible spark. In America in 2016, to advocate for anything like the kind of policies that might engage with such issues would instantly render a candidacy implausible, if not inconceivable—not least with the wealthy folks who now fund elections.
The view from Middletown: For Bernie Sanders supporters, a vote for Clinton does not come easy
Thursday 20th October 2016,
In the autumn of 2011, not long after protestors took over New York’s Zuccotti Park, a demonstration of less than a hundred marched through the rain in a small midwestern town to inaugurate Occupy Muncie. After a unanimous show of jazz hands they chose to set up a small encampment near City Hall.
The view from Middletown: a typical US city that never did exist
Tuesday 18th October 2016,
In the early 1920s husband-and-wife sociologists Robert Staughton Lynd and Helen Merrell Lynd scoured America in search of a city “as representative as possible of contemporary American life”. They found Muncie, Indiana. “A typical city, strictly speaking, does not exist,” they conceded in the first paragraph. “But the city was selected as having many features common to a wide group of communities.” They didn’t tell anyone it was Muncie. They just called it Middletown.
Why the Gun-Control Movement Fails
Tuesday 18th October 2016,
, Illustration by Curt Merlo.
On the evening of November 22, 2013, as the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination drew to a close, Kenneth Mills Tucker, 19, sent a tweet letting the world know his plans for the night: “Out with the gang Dooney Wayne n Rell what’s going on tonight. My last weekend being a teenager.” It was to be Kenneth’s last weekend ever.
The view from Middletown: voters seem embarrassed – not angry
Thursday 13th October 2016,
, Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian
For the most part the midwestern landscape is as flat and appealing as a warm Pepsi. But the hour-long drive from Indianapolis airport to Muncie into a fall dusk lends it a rustic, russet charm – as though someone took America’s breadbasket and decorated it for a harvest festival.
The view from Middletown: join Gary Younge for a unique look at the US election
Tuesday 11th October 2016,
, Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian
In 2012 I recall hosting an event in Washington DC during which columnist Ana Marie Cox, a former Guardian colleague, insisted she could cover the election from the couch. I remember being shocked by that admission-cum-brag at the time but the more I thought about it, the more I came to believe she was on to something. US elections are made-for-TV events. The conventions, rallies, polls and pundits are all essentially spectator sports. The process is built for consumption rather than engagement. It’s big business. In 2012, Republican spending on ads in Florida alone was almost double the total spent by the six main British parties combined during the UK 2015 election.
The view from Middletown: get involved in this US election project – video
Tuesday 11th October 2016,
Gary Younge: Another day in the death of America - Guardian Live event
Monday 3rd October 2016,
, Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images