Basking like with a last cigarette in the results of the Super Tuesday elections, one cant help but wonder if America really does have the best form of democracy in the world. First, of course, a definition of democracy.
The New York Times Editorial Board today posited on the reasons it would seem that American democracy is failing, or seems to be at any rate. According to the esteemed editors, democracy works best when it unites people by the party, and the problem is further complicated by the piles of money thrown at the candidates by interested parties. The Washington Post editorial today read like a recap of an insider's view, and pardon me for saying this if you find it offensive, but isn't it somewhat racist to cast entire demographies of American society in wide brush strokes? Casting the results as though all Hispanic voters favored Hillary Clinton, along with women, is rather disingenuous, overlooking the effects of class and the factors surrounding electoral participation. And, even though white voters might have a problem voting for a black man, Obama showed strongly in the South. Perhaps those who have been broadly cast as racists are looking for a change not offered by someone who is also seen as being from south of the Mason-Dixon. Or, perhaps, because of the unexpectedly high voter turnout in the primary, the traditional mainstream news media is unable to fully appreciate the results, or how they may have been distorted due to the procedural complications of our voting process.
Problems caused by overparticipation in the caucuses, which are themselves already undemocratic in structure, has reported caused problems across most of the country, as voter turnout was almost uniformly higher than projected by election officials. In states such as Kansas, Idaho, New Mexico, Colorado, and California all suffered from the problems related to the swell of voter participation, the ugly underside of democracy, voter disenfranchisement. Of course, it's easy for some pundits to say that the modern American election is more about individual, disparate districts begging for the attention of the candidates than any informative and substantive debate. However, considering the amount of popular participation in the primary elections, the U.S. is going to have some serious problems come November. In England, one observer asks if our system is the best, or the best that we can pay for. As one would expect, the comments are the best part of this article. To which, I can most simply respond that American's two party system doesn't properly reflect the policy aims of the American public, and probably wouldn't fit most definitions of democracy. That being said, here is the latest delegate count, according to CNN, not the distorting effect of the undemocratic Superdelegates in the Democratic race. Also, what good would this discussion be without being able to make fun of some polling data?
In Africa, always a target for those who criticize national governments on their lack of transparency and democratic institutions, the targets have somewhat changed. Tunji Ajibade, publishing from Abuja, frames the recent electoral violence in Kenya in the larger failing of democracy on the African continent and has some sharp words for hesitant British diplomats and their notions of development. Another darling of the West, South Africa, is faced with its own crisis in democracy, with the power of the state having come to reside in the hands of a single party, the African National Congress. One author criticizes the current system, and asks, "What next?" Other new darlings of the West, the Gambia, the DRC, and Ethiopia are also targets for abuse as what were essentially undemocratic elections yielded despots who, with the blessing of their aid donors, are ruthlessly enforcing their will over civil society and journalists.
In Afghanistan, whatever advances that have been made in democracy since the U.S. invasion seem to be quickly fading, as the Taliban continues to fight in the southern areas of the country. Meanwhile, the NATO countries are becoming increasingly frustrated in the varying levels of participation in the force responsible for bringing freedom and stability.
Here is a grim reminder of the dangers of flawed democracy, in which a small minority of a country was able to determine the fortunes and fates of the rest.
Now, for the election coverage!
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