A tale of two countries

From Random Hipatia

I have seen a closely contested election, with a narrow win declared by the establishments favored candidate. There are clear and convincing accusations of vote fraud and intimidation in key districts. The press clearly showed pro-government bias in it’s reporting. While the exit polls, generally a very reliable methodology, all show the “opposition” candidate clearly won, the “official” results say different. The election process itself is declared below accepted international standards and European election monitors are barred from the polling places. Some “pro-government” districts report the impossible of near 100% turnout. Ballots are found which were never counted and government workers are caught destroying original voting records.

No, I am not referring to Ukraine, but rather the American presidential election. Perhaps twice now, the person declared as “elected” as our president is not the person that was actually chosen. Yet, in the Ukraine, where right now several hundred thousand are camped for the night on the outskirts of Kiev seeking democracy, here in America, democracy is an almost forgotten ideal that few seem to care enough to question or investigate even the most outrages incidents of vote fraud. There are no mass protests declaring Kerry is our president, just as there were no mass protests four years ago declaring Gore our elected president.

The reason why, though, is very simple; while in the elections in Kiev, the outcome could determine the future of that nation, whether the old and corrupt ways will continue, or new and more enlightened policies will prevail, in reality, most people expect very little would change in important ways if Kerry (or Gore), rather than Bush, had been elected. And for this reason, nobody is sufficiently motivated to protest like in Ukraine.

If we had declared Kerry our president, the killing in Iraq would still continue. Government by the lobbyists and for the lobbyists would certainly continue as well. Perhaps the names would change, and instead of oil men we would have been eplaced by Hollywood and others, but the overall corrupt system would certainly remain the same.

In the Ukraine, people were offered that most dangerous and precious of commodities, hope. Hope, for a better nation. In the U.S., we still hope for the election day where we will be offered a real choice, rather than having to pick the lesser of two evils. Until the Democrats can offer hope, nobody will care to come out and protest for them even when an election is stolen, and certainly, until they offer hope, for something better than the best government money can buy, they will remain an ever more marginalized opposition party.