Election Day
So the Iraqis just had their first free election in like forever. And I’ve been hearing stories about how it went.
Dawson said at one site a suicide bomber hit a polling station, but the people in line to vote simply stepped over the mess and continued to wait to vote.
The Regimental McCoy told me about a story where a suicide bomber attempted to attack a polling station, but a bystander stopped him, allowing the suicide bomber to only kill himself and the person who intervened.
I’ve read so much about how the Iraqis are just so excited to vote they dont care who they are voting for, they’re happy with the fact they simply get to vote. Early numbers have it that there was a 72 percent turnout rate. That’s amazing. In 2000, it was only 51.3 percent. I couldn’t find any numbers that predated 1960, but the highest turnout on record was 63.1 percent and that was in 1960.
I just wish people were more zealous about voting here in America. Have people become so jaded that they no longer care about who they put into office? Huge step for the Iraqis, and it’s good to see it happen.
January 31st, 2005 at 9:26 pm
Well, look at the last election we had. Bush v. Kerry. The country was going to be in the shitter regradless for who we voted for (though alot of people did vote). You are mostly on about the jaded part. Another thing is good ol’ American laziness.
Also, our country isn’t beset in a brutal civil war, with terrorism a commonplace. People here voted to get some stablility, though I imagine alot of people just voted because they could, or because, hey, everyone else is doing it.
The big thing about this is that the sucess of it is a huge “fuck you” to the AIF and the extremeists. The Iraqi people have said they won’t be oppressed by violence and hostility.
January 31st, 2005 at 10:39 pm
The reason that so few people turn out for elections anymore is a sign of our country’s stability. People know that with the system of checks and balances in our country, who runs the executive does not have that large of an effect.
Granted there are policy changes that come into play, but the average American family does not feel a major shift in the way that it lives. The poor will still be poor and the working families will still have to work.