Elections and Freedom

Well, it is done and the votes in Iraq are being counted. Counting the votes and the independent certification of the election may still take a few days, but the vote is in, and I can already tell you who won.

The Iraqi people.

Current estimates are that 60-70% of eligible voters turned up at the polls to cast their votes. With many of them walking miles to reach the polls. One elderly Iraqi reportedly traveled 3 miles in a wheelchair so that he could vote.

Very good news indeed … this shows that, despite ‘naysayers’ the Iraqi people ARE interested in freedom and in choosing their leaders. Despite reports that predicted widespread violence, the Iraqi people chose to exercise their freedom and vote. Despite media report depicting the mission in Iraq as a failure, the elections of Jan 30, 2005 were a success.

Now … let’s take a step back and look at something. We just elected a new president back in November. Americans went to the polls just as the Iraqi people did on Sunday and voted on who would be our new leader. However, in the US, less than 60% of American voters actually went to the polls. In the 2000 presidential election only 51% of voters bothered to cast their ballot.

Yes. Here in the US where we are safe and secure, where we are not threatened by terrorists, where we are protected and free. Here almost half of us can’t be bothered to go to the polls. And too many of those that do, couldn’t pass a simple civics test if you were to require it to vote (as I think there should be … if you can’t take a test and show that you at least understand the basics of how the government functions I don’t believe that you need to be voting).

Now there are allegations here in the US that voters were ‘disenfranchised’ in the November elections. That their right to vote was taken away because they didn’t want to wait in long lines, or because a police car passing by ‘intimidated’ them into leaving, or that they had to show picture ID to vote.

To vote in the US you HAVE to do 3 things – Be a legal citizen of the US, register to vote, and show up to vote (or if circumstances make that impossible request and cast an absentee ballot within the appropriate timeframe as described by law). If you are not willing to wait in a long line, you have not been disenfranchised … you’re just too lazy to vote. If a police car passing by ‘intimidates’ you then I have to wonder what you’re hiding from police, but unless the officers physically keep you from voting you have not been disenfranchised. And I’m sorry, but a picture ID is how we prove that you are who you say you are, and that you’ve met the first two requirements … if you are unwilling to do that then I’m sorry but you can’t vote because we can’t confirm that you’re a citizen or that you’re a registered voter.

I have yet to see ANY evidence of people not being ALLOWED to vote. Yes, there is some evidence that for various reasons some people CHOSE not to vote, but they are free people … they are allowed to make that choice for themselves.

If the Iraqi people can vote under threat of death by terrorists and in some cases by their own countrymen, then the American people need to take notice. Our freedom is a wonderful thing; we shouldn’t allow anything to keep us from legally voting. And if you do CHOOSE not to vote … don’t blame it on something else … take responsibility for the choice, don’t complain because you don’t like the outcome.

Just over 40 Iraqi people died because of Election Day violence; these are some of the true heroes of Iraq … the people that went out to cast their vote for freedom and gave their lives in that effort. But it is a statement to the success of the efforts in Iraq that the violence was as limited as it was. Iraq is entering a dangerous stage in its democratic development, and I believe that it is in the interests of all free people in the world to help this new government emerge and flourish, to shelter this new flame so that it may be a new light in the darkness.