A choice between love and hate

The contrast is stark – last week at the Republican Party Convention the audience was dominated by white people. Here at the Democrat Party Convention, there is a significant presence of blacks. Last week, the audience was mostly male. Here there are men, women, transsexuals and intersexuals. Last week, it was all about one man celebrating himself. Here people from across the country are celebrating and talking about their ideas, hopes and dreams.

It is not often that the National Party Conferences of the two major US political parties are held as close together as they have been this year. Only a few days ago, the Republican Donald-Trump-Festival ended in Cleveland with the freshly nominated candidate's over-the-top speech, followed by a shower of red, white and blue balloons. Perhaps it is this direct contrast that highlights the extreme differences between the two parties. Perhaps it is the intense Twitter campaign that is managing to divide public opinion so strongly. But perhaps it is just a reality in America right now.

The differences at a glance

Even if all the stickers, posters and t-shirts were banned, you would only need to take one glance at the Party Convention venue, and it would be clear where you were. Here in Philadelphia, a multicultural America has come together. There are people with different skin colors and outfits who are united. There are the young, old, Muslim, Christian, atheist, black, white, people with an Asian background, and there are indigenous people. There are people in pin-stripe suits, others in Jesus sandals.

At the Democrat Convention diversity itself is celebrated, as well as the dream of a country where racism has been finally defeated; there is acceptance, that the era of white male domination is gone forever. For four days the Wells Fargo Arena is turned into an innovation platform, a view of a country where dreams can come true.

Republican siege mentality

In Cleveland, it was the exact opposite. The city, which lies on Lake Erie, was witness to where a siege mentality can lead when a political party is not prepared to accept the demographic changes in a globalized world. Donald Trump had the Convention in a stranglehold. Although minority views were grandiosely staged by the overwhelmingly white delegation - in the end, the core message remained: "I am the only one who can solve the problems."

And the bigger and more dangerous the problems are, the more important the problem-solver becomes. This is logical. Trump understood this early on and ran his campaign accordingly ever since. In the beginning, he used his reputation as a successful businessman to create fear about socio-economic decline. Now he is seizing the opportunity to portray himself as a successful guardian of law and order who will defeat terror and make America safe. And, of course, here it is also the case that the bigger the fear, the greater the importance of the protector.

The weapon of demagogues

Fear is an extremely strong weapon. And it is a dangerous one. History books are full of demagogues who have recognized this and known how to use it. And it has had terrible consequences for the country as well as for the whole world.

For a long time, it was unclear what counter-strategy the Democrats would choose. With Hillary Clinton as a leader there was a candidate with a great deal of experience, but not much charisma. "Trust" would have worked for another candidate but was not an option given the recent examples of Hillary Clinton's half-truths. "Strength" would have also been dangerous, because it could easily have turned into a fatal competition about military armament.

So they decided to choose a power that is said to be able to move mountains: "Love."

Boycott by Sander's supporters

With this strategy, the Democrats hope not only to fight Trump's rhetoric. They also hope to bring the party together. It is hoped that a Summer of Love will provide an antidote to the Spring of Conflict. But the wounds inflicted during the harsh struggle for the nomination between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are far from healed. Even if Unity is invoked and proclaimed on stage, it is clear that the hard-core Sanders' supporters have still not come over to Hillary's side and will probably boycott the election in November.

Will this strategy work?

To those here in Philadelphia it is apparent at least that "Love" is providing the delegates with much-needed energy to push a strengthened party forward in the challenge of facing the real opponent in the November elections.

And Hillary Clinton has some influential supporters, not least of whom is the current First Lady, who won hearts with her brilliant speech at the Convention. This is a woman who succeeds in bringing together courage, compassion, and understanding with coolness and professionalism like no other. This is a woman whose strengths Hillary Clinton can build on. Not least of all because Michelle Obama knows that all the work of the Obama-years will be destroyed in one fell swoop if Donald Trump moves into the White House.

So can the slogan "Love" really work? At least at the Convention, the dream-factory of the United States, the Senators, party members and supporters believe that it will. And that's at least a start.