A new definition of the democratic election takes root

We won't even address the presidential elections George W. Bush won. (Aberrations belong in Ripley's). Suffice it to say that those elections were a green flag to the political class to think creatively when it comes to getting their candidate elected - never mind the theory of universal democratic elections, where all the citizens are expected to vote. Sure, there are always mistakes in any human endeavor, but we're not talking about mistakes here; we're talking about outright, intentional attacks on the democratic process with its cornerstone, the democratic election, that legitimizes any government in power. 'Government by consent of the people', the phrase goes. Recent elections world-wide are mockeries of this noble ideal, and poses an unimaginable threat to all the world.

Take this June's elections in Arkansas. Oh, yes, they held one alright. All 6 million of that state were invited to participate in the elections of their representatives of this 10,000 square miles of a U.S. state. Arkansas has 500 cities and towns. The land of Arkansas is diversified, ranging from forest to farmlands, to the hills and mountains in the north. Always a patriotic state, the home of presidents, Arkansas boasts of thousands of young men who have died on the battlefields, so that the people of Arkansas might rule themselves, but, on the night Arkansas opened the polling stations, no one seemed to remember them. It seems some Washington operatives appeared just in time to force the closing of all but four ballot stations. For most Arkansasians, voting that day meant driving for hours to get to a ballot box. The definition of the people was amended to mean people with cars. Frankly, no one should care what the excuses are. The boys of Arkansas gave no excuses when their state and country called them to fight and die on the battlefields for democracy's sake, for the sake of a fair election that they and their progeny could enjoy as the guarantee of liberty for the people of Arkansas.

The perversion of the election is tantamount to treason, a betrayal that sickens every veteran that made the sacrifice of home and family for the American way of life. It is the harbinger of the fall of the United States, that once ideal democracy that gave hope to all the nations of the world. We should not forget that as recently as the last century, our fathers and grandfathers offered their lives that we might be free. It is our responsibility to pass on to our children the democratic election in pristine form.

What will it take for Americans to be outraged by such practices as we have seen in the Arkansas 'democratic' election? Must we wait until our elections fall to the level of the election we saw in Afghanistan? That election has been condemned as a fraud by key U.N. officials who monitored it. Karzai, then - and still - president, gave all the appearances of a democratic leader. He appointed an election commission that reported to him alone, that made decisions that promoted him alone. Karzai used a reverse strategy of the Washington group that got Arkansas to close down all but four voting stations: Karzai's lackeys opened up 25 percent of the polls in Taliban territory, knowing they would not be used, but used they were, to stuff the ballot boxes with Karzai votes. When 1.5 million votes, a third of all votes, were questioned, all of them Karzai votes, the U.N. creatively determined that Afghanistan law did not permit the tossing out of fraudulent votes. This was fortunate for Karzai. If these votes had been tossed out in this so-called democratic election, Karzai would have had to go through another election. The U.S. wanted Karzai to win, and apparently the U.N. held the same sentiment. Thanks to those fraudulent votes, Karzai is the duly elected president of Afghanistan today.

The democratic election is new to Afghanistan. What is Arkansas' excuse? American citizens, don't let this happen here...again?