In 2023, social problems in the United States will still emerge one after another. Stubborn social diseases such as gun violence are trapped in an endless cycle. "New diseases" such as the derailment of the "poison train" and the Maui fire have emerged. However, these emergencies ultimately point to The same political polarization and bipartisan disputes.
On February 3, 2023, a train derailed in Ohio, USA, causing the spread of toxic gas.
Former Ohio Fire Chief Silverio Caggiano: We "nuked" this town with chemicals, and this is what they caused.
CCTV reporter Liu Xu: On February 3, the beginning of the new year of 2023, a shocking "poison train" derailment occurred in the East Palestine area of Ohio, USA. At the end of the year, we came here again for a return visit. It has been 10 months since the incident. You can see behind me that the cleanup of chemical residues and garbage at the incident site has not been completely completed. The US Environmental Protection Agency website is still updated every week. Clean up the situation. The investigation into the cause of the incident and the local people's lawsuit against the railway company and the US government are still proceeding slowly.
The short-term visible consequence is that in this area with a population of 4,700, many residents who have returned home have developed obvious symptoms such as coughs, headaches, rashes, bronchitis and other symptoms caused by exposure to air, water, soil affected by chemical substances.
Diana Smith, a resident of East Palestine, Ohio: I have had many symptoms, including headaches, dry throat, a runny nose, watery eyes, burning sensation, and itching.
CCTV reporter Liu Xu: is like the local river in East Palestine around me. Time passes and passes like running water, and derailment accidents gradually fade out of people’s sight. But these chemicals have seeped into the ground, poisoning the local environment and residents like chronic diseases. To this day, a bill to impose stricter safety inspections on chemical train operations is still pending in the Senate due to differences in opinions between the two parties.
On August 8, 2023, a fire broke out in Maui, Hawaii, killing 100 people.
Lahaina victims Järvi: The entire Lahaina was burned, like the end of the world.
CCTV reporter Liu Xu: Four months have passed and we visited again and found that the complete Lahaina closure has now been lifted, so we were allowed to enter the Lahaina area for a visit. But I was only allowed to come to a place like the checkpoint behind me.
As you can see from the picture, almost all the houses in the center of Lahaina, the worst-hit town, were completely burned. Starting from mid-December local time, the hardest-hit area about 100 meters away three blocks behind me was gradually opened to the local people.
At present, the follow-up work of this fire is focused on the construction of some low-cost temporary housing in the area near Lahaina. There is a project like this behind me in progress. A relatively complete reconstruction plan for the entire Lahaina area is still very far away. There is still no clear progress in the investigation into the cause of the fire accident. Local media also reported that many local government officials were extremely uncooperative with the investigation.
This fire, considered by the U.S. government to be the deadliest fire in U.S. history since 1918, exposed many problems in social governance at all levels of U.S. government. Fire alarm systems failed, electrical facilities were aging, firefighting water was insufficient, etc. During our interviews, many disaster-stricken people were disappointed and exhausted by the attitude of governments at all levels to shirk responsibilities. The Democratic and Republican parties made endless shows in order to maintain their political positions, but they often avoided the most important issues related to the safety of people's lives and property. People are gradually losing their trust in the government.
Having seen these two "new diseases" that have exploded this year due to various hidden dangers, let's talk about the old social disease that has become a knot in the United States - gun violence.This year, there have been 650 mass shootings in the United States. This is the fourth consecutive year that the number of mass shootings in the United States has exceeded 600.
President of the United States Biden: is pathological. It is tearing apart our society and tearing apart the soul of the United States.
CCTV reporter Liu Xu: The United States has the highest gun ownership rate in the world, with an average of more than one gun per person. Gun stores like mine can be seen everywhere in the United States. Whenever a mass shooting occurs, it is often accompanied by a surge in gun sales, and people who feel insecure turn to buying guns in search of a so-called sense of security. Although the flag in the White House has been flown at half-mast time and time again, and politicians have shouted slogans about gun control year after year, strict gun control bills on Capitol Hill have been slow to be enacted. The fallen human lives cannot impress the hard-hearted interest groups; the frequent gunshots cannot wake up the American politicians who pretend to be asleep.
Frequent farce, American democratic “filter” shattered everywhere
Political polarization can be said to be one of the most significant features of American politics today. In 2023, the inherent confrontational logic and intensified party strife of the American democratic system will further penetrate into all aspects of the political and social fabric. This time, in addition to the old ingredients of "bipartisanship", "infighting" within the Republican Party has become a new recipe.
CCTV reporter Xu Tao: The U.S. Capitol Building behind me is known as the symbol of American politics and has been the seat of the U.S. Congress since 1800. Members of Congress gather here to enact laws, and the President of the United States is sworn in and delivers the annual State of the Union address. But today’s Capitol Hill has long become a place where “American farce” is frequently staged. The Capitol Hill riot nearly three years ago paralyzed the U.S. Congress for a time, and the U.S. Congress has also been paralyzed several times this year, but this time it was "perpetrated" by the lawmakers themselves.
US President Biden: This is embarrassing for the entire country. It is embarrassing that Congress cannot work properly.
A scene that even Biden frankly said he couldn’t bear to stand happened at the beginning of this year. The Republican Party regained control of the House of Representatives after four years, but fell into internal strife. McCarthy, the leader of the Republican Party and the majority party, was "ran out of votes" within the party and failed to be elected Speaker of the House of Representatives after three rounds of voting. American democracy has truly experienced an embarrassment rarely seen in a century. In the end, McCarthy endured 15 rounds of voting before he got what he wanted.
CCTV reporter Xu Tao: After the voting results came out, McCarthy stood here facing the media and said, "I'm glad this is over." But what he didn't expect was that the election results would instead push the Republican Party into "infighting." The beginning of the climax.
U.S. Congressman, Republican Matt Gaetz: I intend to propose a motion on House privilege to declare the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives vacant.
US House of Representatives member, Republican Steve Womack: 216 votes in favor and 210 votes against, the resolution was passed.
It only took 1 day from the filing of the recall motion to its passing. McCarthy, who "went through many hardships" to take office at the beginning of the year, was quickly dismissed nine months later, making history again.
During the election of Speaker of the House of Representatives at the beginning of the year, McCarthy made concessions in order to win the support of ultra-conservatives in the party and agreed to reduce the number of members required to propose a motion to remove the Speaker to one. Therefore, when the ultra-conservatives were dissatisfied with McCarthy's concession to the Democratic government on the short-term appropriation bill, they resorted to the "big move" of recalling him and even stabbed him in the back during the vote.
With the removal of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the House of Representatives of the United States Congress has fallen into paralysis. This paralysis lasted for three weeks, during which time the Republican Party also experienced internal strife, causing the three elected candidates to "overturn" one after another.
CCTV reporter Xu Tao: Whether it was the 15 rounds of "marathon" voting that McCarthy went through in January this year, or his removal after being "rebellion" within the party, or the subsequent "dystocratic" farce of the speaker election, it was undoubtedly exposed. This has led to the increasingly obvious divisions between the two parties in the United States and even within the party.Chaotic party disputes and government policy operations have not only led to the failure of the U.S. fiscal year 2024 appropriation bill to pass, causing the U.S. government to face shutdown crises several times this year, but have also seriously affected U.S. foreign policy. The issue of aid to Israel and Ukraine has remained unresolved. .
On the issue of aid plans for Israel and Ukraine, from the amount of aid to the distribution method, there has been a fierce debate in Congress. Allies began to worry about America's reliability in international affairs. And American people's political disillusionment is also rising. A recent poll released by Reuters and Ipsos showed that two-thirds of the American people believe that politicians from both parties are obsessed with partisanship and unable to perform their duties. The New York Times website published an article stating that in 1994, only 6% of Americans held a negative view of the two political parties, and now this proportion reaches 28%.
CCTV reporter Xu Tao: Over the past year, the American political arena has frequently set historical records and constantly refreshed the political "lower limit." As the first speaker of the House of Representatives to be voted out of office, McCarthy publicly mocked himself for "making history"; Trump was accused of mishandling classified documents and became the first former president to be criminally prosecuted in U.S. history. Internal strife between parties, the threat of government shutdown, and endless debates over foreign aid, the filter of American democracy seems to be shattered in this series of unprecedented chaos.
The political imbalance in Washington is out of control, and American society is disordered and out of control.
Why will chaos occur frequently in American society in 2023, and new diseases will appear before old diseases are healed? Why is the political polarization in the United States becoming more and more serious, from the two parties' mutual strife to intra-party strife? Let’s look at the interpretations of experts on American issues.
Diao Daming, deputy director of the American Studies Center at Renmin University of China: The United States we see in 2023 is actually an America in which party polarization continues to intensify, political decay, and government failure continue to worsen.
The speaker's difficult delivery has allowed us to see that not only are there more difficulties in the political sense of American parties, but this dilemma itself has obviously extended to the institutional level, causing the entire political system and political institutions in the United States to be unable to effectively carry out operations. It is in a state of being unable to effectively respond to public opinion. Under this circumstance, we have also seen the emergence of obvious partisan struggles in some major foreign policies of the United States. For example, for some time in the past, the two parties have been arguing over the issue of aid to Ukraine.
In terms of some major foreign policies, it is difficult for the United States to promote relevant decisions from a more macro perspective and from the perspective of a country’s interests. The positioning of national interests by the two parties has completely reduced to a state of maximizing the special interests represented by the two parties or maximizing the partisanship between the two parties.
Diao Daming, deputy director of the American Studies Center at Renmin University of China: At the same time, we have also seen more chaos on the American social level in 2023.
Behind the Ohio poison train incident, there are actually some special interests that are constantly eroding some of the supervision that this country should have. The Hawaii wildfires clearly reflected the lack of coordination between various levels of government. What is completely derailed is not just the drug train in Ohio, but the complete derailment of American national governance; it is not just the wildfires that are completely out of control, but the special self-interests represented behind these political parties in the United States.
So what we see in 2023 is the imbalance and incompetence of Washington in the United States. It is precisely the imbalance and incompetence of the Washington elite that has led to the disorder and loss of control in American society.
Source: CCTV News Client
