A defaced and torn election poster of Afghan President Hamid Karzai is seen in Kabul, Afghanistan. The Afghan electoral crisis intensified as officials responsible for declaring final results from the August presidential ballot refused to accept findings of a U.N.-backed investigative panel that would force a runoff, those involved in the process said. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)
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America: Land of the Free, Home of the Know-It-Alls
By Jessica McSperitt
As depicted by our involvement in the affairs of other countries, it has become clear, at least in the opinion of the U.S. government and media, that America is the all-knowing of what’s right, not only for ourselves, but everyone else in the world. Democracy is shown as the best possible system given that we are the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world. It would make sense then, that in order for other countries to run well, they should not only follow our lead, but desire and benefit from our assistance when it’s given. And if they don’t, we’ll go ahead and step in to “help” them anyway.
This was shown recently by an article in the New York Times citing the occurrence of a “political crisis” in the recent Afghanistan election. It was stated several times throughout the article that “votes were discarded due to fraud” after an audit of the election. In an effort by the U.S. to aid in the democratic process, “Mr. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, spent three days in Kabul attempting to defuse a deepening political crisis.” At the end of the article it states that “about 3,000 people gathered in a market in the district of Spinbaldak, shouting, ‘We don’t want foreigners to interfere in our election,’” pointing out the fact that they might not want or need our help.
Frankly, I don’t know that the U.S. is really the best source for election advice given the outcome of the 2000 election controversy in which the Supreme Court had to step in and give a ruling. To this day, voting machines are being investigated by several non-profit groups who question the validity and accuracy of such technology in our elections.