Historic Day In Iraq

As I write this the polls in Iraq have closed. The people there have participated in their first truly free election in the history of the country. People braved the threat of terrorist attacks on their free process to go to the polling places and participate in a process only the free experience. There were attacks, there was violence, and the last I read 56 people had been killed in the process. Yet, people still went out to the polling places. People left their homes knowing they could be killed trying to vote, but they went out anyway.

The unfortunate reality is, in the United States, voting has become a matter of convenience. There are exceptions. My family and I go vote despite the weather or the length of the lines. They have heard me harp over the years that if you did not vote you have no right to complain. If you did not take the chance to have your say on election day then you don’t get a say when it is over. Unfortunately, too many people in America will not exercise their right to vote but will complain the loudest about the problems in our country.

People here will not vote because they have to work though the polls are open early and close late and all employers are required to give employees time off to vote. The problem is employers have to give you the time, they do not have to pay you. Most people would rather not participate in democracy if they lose a little money. In addition, people do not want to wait. In our society we have drive through everythings so people do not have to get out of their cars. They can be waited upon in their cars while they zip through to the next thing they want to do. If people have to wait, they are likely to leave and go someplace else. Retailers know this. It is the reason drive through was invented. So what happens when these same self centered people have to wait to vote? They leave and people like Jessie Jackson get to run around and tell us this is a big Himey plot designed to disenfranchise voters. We have people here who will not wait in bad weather to vote. The same people who will sit in outdoor stadiums watching sporting events in freezing rain and driving snow will not brave a little weather to exercise a basic symbol of a free society.

The Iraqi people are on their way to establishing themselves among the other nations of the world. They want freedom and they want a say in how their lives are influenced by their leaders. They do not want to live in poverty while their leaders slaughter them and live in palaces. These people are determined to have a say in their future. It will take 7-10 days for an official tally but we should have some preliminary results later today.

We started out many months ago in an effort to free the Iraqi people and bring freedom and liberty to them. We had great plans and knew they could learn so much from us about democracy. Perhaps it is time for us to take a look at how the Iraqi people have accepted this challenge. Perhaps by looking at their brave determination, we can actually learn something about our civil responsibilities.

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2 Responses to “Historic Day In Iraq”

  1. Dave says:

    Let’s understand one thing – liberals hate freedom! They hate freedom in other countries, and they most certainly hate freedom in our country. Freedom offers everyone the opportunity to do what they see to be right and appropriate. Liberals cannot stand the thought that someone whose ideas differ from their own might have the opportunity to have those ideas brought to fruition.

    Oh, the liberals talk a good game. In the 2000 elections in Florida, the liberals decried the idea that some (meaning those most likely to vote democrat) might not have had their votes counted and were thus disenfranchised (never mind, for now, their typical abuse and incorrect definition of the term). But they did everything they could to see that absentee ballots (those votes most likely to vote republican) were not counted. Clearly, the freedom to vote did not extend to those whose ideas differed from the liberals.

    In the recent elections in Washington state, the recounts went on, adding ‘newly discovered’ votes until the liberals achieved the results they wanted. The people of that state, according to reports, do not think that their votes were counted properly and have every confidence that their freedom to vote was usurped by a corrupt (read liberal) judiciary and state mechanism. This fact is lost on the liberals since their candidate ‘won’ the day.

    And on to Iraq. Prior to election day, the liberals were confident that the people of Iraq were more concerned for their safety than their freedom. The turnout would be low, there would be indescribable violence, fraud, etc.. This, in their eyes, would deligitimize the entire process and, by extension, the entire Bush plan in and for Iraq. Holding these elections was important to the liberals for these reasons. Now, one day post election, where by all reports over 70% of the eligible voters exercised their freedom, where the Sunnis exercised their freedom to not participate, where there was a minimum of the expected violence, and the entire worldwide participation of Iraqis in their rights of freedom was overwhelming, the liberals are already downplaying the importance of the elections.

    Peter Jennings is saying that the elections are illegitimate because the Sunnis chose not to participate. John Kerry says, in effect, the elections are unimportant in the grand scheme. Mark my words, the entire focus in the mainstream media in the coming weeks will be on the 30% who chose not to vote, the despicable violence, the non-participation of the Sunnis, and any other problem they can see or make up.

    The Iraqi people have won their freedom. It has been won at the cost of a lot of Iraqi, American, and coalition blood, but it has been won. The liberals cannot stand this. They have to make the world understand that freedom only belongs to those who can exercise it in accordance with their views. When someone, anyone, exercises their freedom in opposition to them, they see a huge problem. And if there isn’t one handy, they’ll invent one and harp on it ad nauseum.

  2. Adam says:

    Man, Dave. You are just full of spite. I try to stay way from broad generalizations myself, but I do slip from time to time. I am a liberal and I want the elections to work. I believe forcing revolution on a nation is a bad idead, and using violence to do it is even worse. We can’t take back the past though. There is still a chance that civil war could break out at any time from all the conflit, but as I said yesterday on my page, so far so good.