posted on August 23, 2001 05:58:08 PM new
A Third World View of our Recent Elections
A history professor from Uppsala University in Sweden, called to tell a
friend about an article she had read in which a Zimbabwe politician was
quoted as saying that children should study the current US election closely
because it shows that election fraud is not only a third world phenomenon:
1. Imagine that we read of an election occurring anywhere in the Third World
in which the self-declared winner was the son of the former prime minister
and that former prime minister was himself the former head of that nation's
secret police.
2. Imagine that the self-declared winner lost the popular vote but won based
on an old colonial holdover from the nation's pre-democracy past.
3. Imagine that the self-declared winner's 'victory' turned on disputed votes
cast in a province governed by his brother!
4. Imagine that the poorly drafted ballots of one district, a district
heavily favoring the self-declared winner's opponent, led thousands of voters
to vote for the wrong candidate.
5. Imagine that that members of that nation's most despised caste, fearing
for their lives/livelihoods, turned out in record numbers to vote in
near-universal opposition to the self-declared winner's candidacy.
6. Imagine that hundreds of members of that most-despised caste were
intercepted on their way to the polls by state police operating under the
authority of the self-declared winner's brother.
7. Imagine that six million people voted in the disputed province and that
the self-declared winner's 'lead' was only 327 votes -- fewer, certainly,
than the vote counting machines' margin of error.
8. Imagine that the self-declared winner and his political party opposed a
more careful by-hand inspection and re-counting of the ballots in the
disputed province or in its most hotly disputed district.
9. Imagine that the self-declared winner, himself a governor of a major
province, had the worst human rights record of any province in his nation and
actually led the nation in executions.
10. Imagine that a major campaign promise of the self-declared winner was to
appoint like-minded human rights violators to lifetime positions on the high
court of that nation.
None of us would deem such an election to be representative of anything other
than the self-declared winner's will-to-power. All of us, I imagine, would
wearily turn the page thinking that it was another sad tale of pitiful pre-
or anti-democracy peoples in some strange "elsewhere." Guess again.
posted on August 23, 2001 10:45:46 PM new
It is interesting that our last "election" process was so shocking to the world -- that America has so long been the world standof "Fair Play" inte election process, should be so overtunred as to be as an example to the resrt of the of world of what NOT to do.
Our last "election" and biased -- with Storm Troopers paid for be the local Republicans to intimidate local governments to give Bush the advantage that he did not deserve, made a mockery of our electoical process. Ronald reagan, were he able dispite his iolnes, would scream at how UNAMERICAN that the last election decision was, stands at the forfront of disgust of the entire world body of nations and governments. Now and forever, we can non longer stand as the becon of Hope and Justice throughout the world, because Republicans have subverted our Democratic process and ruined our image eternally. Was it worth putting this moronic monster into power? No! We are the laughingstock of the entire planet and our creditablility is hot down forever -- and Republican voters couldn't care a dman less abnout it. Of course, they'll #*!@ about how things are, but will neve admit that they are at fault for it. Go figure!
posted on August 24, 2001 01:38:50 AM new
I've had a few drinks, so what the hell, I'll waste some of my time too, and I'm fully aware it is a waste, I'll be writing in English and some will need text in Martian, they haven't understood English for 9 months (and counting.) Just be aware I do know better.
Here's some differences to consider for those that have never lived in a third world country.
1)There were no outbreaks of violence.
2)The army wasn't put on alert, the national guard wasn't called out.
3)The free press examined the process unhindered after it was over and did validate the outcome.
Here's a biggie that some are unable to grasp.
4)The losing candidate (and the party) accepted the results!
Please don't try and issue any dogma that Gore conceded to prevent a civil war, it was ridiculous the first time it was brought up and it will be ridiculous the next time it is brought up. I've grown to expect those oh so trite terms like "Storm Troopers" and "moronic monster" rhetoric from some. To those dramatist that can't use any other words, go ahead, make me smile.
I've lived in a third world country. They've waved more than just banners. Opposing factions don't fight with just words. I saw the aftermath of two bombings over election problems. My brother was trapped at a friends house just a few blocks away when the army was patrolling the streets for a couple days because of a close election in Lima.
Dramatize and rant all you like but the US election was simply close, very close, that's all. The US used the electoral college to elect the president like they always have, they'll keep using the electoral college to elect presidents. Deal with it, seek professional help if necessary. Have a few drinks... no... better yet have a lot of drinks.
posted on August 24, 2001 02:24:55 AM new
Fortune has smiled on me, after a few more drinks I was able to figure a crude Martian translation for those that need it. A special thanks to Orson Welles, H. G. Wells, and Smirnoff for their assistance.
