All across the world various dictators and governments allowed news outlets along with the public to focus their attention on the US 2008 elections, some in the hope of proving that the US democracy is flawed. Most watching the election were cheering for Mr. Obama as the presumed underdog of US politics but most have also come to the conclusion that America would never elect him. After all, Americans, as is often said, are too conservative, too prejudice, and too ignorant to go against imperial special interests controlling politics in the country. Ironically many were looking at America through the prism of their own prejudices and experiences with their own governments and elections.
American history is full of examples were great presidents were elected despite being unlikely candidates. It goes to show how little attention we pay to history or how easy it is to be distracted by recent events that block our view of the past. The Bush administration’s stated goal of “exporting democracy” to others had provided the world a decidedly bad example of Democracy, one imposed by a foreign power and one that favors the most docile of politicians.
The world’s expectations of America were so low that no one believed that the American Democracy was anything but a forgone conclusion. No wonder the Chinese, the Russians, Arab and African dictators, and even the Iranian government allowed a fair amount of media coverage of the 2008 American election, thinking that their people would have a first row seat to the final proof that their propaganda messages against America were true. Many of the world public expected that the American election would turn out just like the elections in the own countries, predetermined by those in power and influence.
Well, the dictators’ presumptions were wrong, and now they’re stuck with their people finally seeing what real democracy really looks like. Nobody in America knew who the president will be, not even the candidates, until the peoples’ votes were counted, or for that matter projected. More importantly, after the election those who disagreed with the majority vote didn’t go on rampage and the National Guard didn’t have to be called in.
I wonder how the next fixed Russian election would feel like to the Russians as ex-president Putin will run to be president again and will shockingly be elected. He will not cause as much excitement, however, because the Russians now know the difference between true democracy and a fake one.
It will certainly be a little bit more difficult to swallow the BS surrounding the next election in Iran which can already be predicted even though we still don’t know who the candidates are. The odds are that many of the legitimate candidates will be vetted out by the governing theocracy leaving the country will a few choices like the current president and one of the ex-presidents both trying to run on a platform of change.
Its OK if the world forgets about the history of American Democracy because as luck would have it, American democracy is evolving to something better as time passes. America’s best days lie ahead.
