I remember when Soviet Russia held elections. There was only one candidate and everyone was expected to turn out and vote for him. This is one kind of election. Then there were the elections we had throughout this country after the Civil War. In those elections there were tests and taxes that specifically prevented Black people from voting. They were told, in effect, they were in a special category and their votes would not be counted. In some ways, this system still operates in some places. Intimidation of potential voters is part of this process apart from the intimidation of threats made by one party if the other party gets elected.
The election in Afghanistan is a first. This was a first for them and a first for a country that was “liberated” by the force of foreign arms. This might be the harbinger of a new way to spread our American “Democracy”. Claims were made that women, particularly repressed in Afghanistan by religious custom and the Taliban, now could vote. Because of the wide-spread illiteracy in Afghanistan, voting had to be made by pictures of the candidates and pictograms in order to distinguish between individuals and parties.
One of the big problems of an election in a country like Afghanistan is that paper ballots have to be counted by hand and the counting will not be finished by next month – maybe. But progress is seen and has been made in a difficult place.
The promised election in the conquered (not liberated) country of Iraq is scheduled for January, only about three months away. Balloting is going on as we speak by attacks by dissents and murders by ambush and beheadings and generally, chaos. This is election by injection from a foreign culture. Here the expected result will be the peaceful march to voting places and learning about the results even before Election Day is over. Our technology enables us to predict who has won after only a few voters leave the polling place.
I can’t wait until America’s election is over. This is despite my fear that the flat-earth society people may be in the majority and vote for Republicans and reelect the puppet president of the 21st Century, George W. Bush. If that happens we can expect more of the same kind of imperialistic attitude and rule by fiat that we have seen in the last four years. The puppeteers will be behind the throne.
If the election is over and Kerry is elected, I just can’t wait to see if he will turn out to be as his handlers want us to see him or as his detractors have pictured and twisted him in this pre-election period. But, will I be GLAD when it is over!