| I thought a bit more about democracy and its problems. In 2000, we saw problems in a United States election, especially in Florida, with doubts about whether George W. Bush or Al Gore had won. Since then, we’ve had election fraud as Robert Mugabe clung to power in Zimbabwe, riots in Kenya amid suspicions of rigging, Thailand’s problems with vote-buying and corruption, and now awful violence in Iran thanks to the disputed re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
All these troubles don’t mean that democracy is bad necessarily, but do show that it’s neither a simple system, nor an answer to all the world’s problems. Many of democracy’s shortfalls appear in developing countries, but the U.S. has its share of political troubles too. There’s still much room for debate.
Lily Bond
New Zealand
(June 29, 2009)
Ballot box no guarantee of 'uncorrupted' democracy.
ARCHIVES
|
