"A martyr for the ballot box"

For Tiny (above, with eerie, pre-dawn eyes caught in the camera's flash campaigning for breakfast this morning) and President Bush, "the future instructs current policy." In Tiny's case, the future = the next meal, which translates into a policy of 24/7 campaigning for food.

"See, George is a visionary, and to him, the future instructs current policy rather than the “realist”credo of crisis management," writes Nibras Kazimi, an Iraqi writer living in Washington D.C., in The New York Sun [via Lucianne]:

In 1864 America had an election during its Civil War, and Abraham Lincoln won a second term through a landslide while most of the secessionist South, understandably, did not participate.Is anyone today going to make the argument that these results were illegitimate? The causes for America’s fratricide were many and complex, but what elementary school children across America are learning is that there was no moral equivalency between slave owners and the unionists. In 20 years time, Iraqi children will also be taught that, during the height of an undeclared civil war that is currently ravishing the country, there was no moral equivalency between the democrats and the beheaders.

We don't know how long Mr. Kazimi has been living in the U.S., but he appears to have a better understanding of the important lessons of American history than a lot of Americans. Reminds us of former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky's fear-society-vs-free-society worldview. Now, switching to Kazimi's fellow Iraqis in the old country, listen to the buzz at the Shahbandar Cafe in Baghdad, where the Washington Post reports "there is a pronounced optimism about what the elections signify among people who have grasped for a turning point during nearly two years of occupation":

Three men sat over cigarettes and hourglass cups of sweet tea Thursday and debated what the coming elections meant for a country scarred by three decades of tyranny, war and bitter disillusionment.

"Going to the polling stations is a victory for the Iraqi people," said Ali Danif, a 45-year-old writer.

Not to be outdone, a smiling Suheil Yassin jumped in. It's one of my wishes to die at the gate of the polling station, he said, a gesture that was self-consciously dramatic. I want to be a martyr for the ballot box.

Violence lurks menacingly over the process, which will end with the selection of a new parliament on Jan. 30. Candidates' names are not published, for fear of assassination. Rallies are few, posters are often torn down, and hardly anyone can describe a party's platform, much less its nominees.

For many of the men gathered here, sitting under portraits of Baghdad's history, the elections are more important than the candidates.

As Iraqi expat Kazimi wrote in the Sun article cited above,

The evil-doers have ceded the press and broadcast industry battleground and are now scrambling for legitimacy in fending off democracy. Their rhetoric is no longer riddled with loaded catch-phrases like “Zionism” and “colonial occupation” or even the “new crusades.” No, today’s talking points for the jihadists go something like this: Democracy is a Greek word that means power through the people and not God, which is a heresy that must be eradicated . . . they intend to treat polling booths in the upcoming Iraqi elections on January 31 as military targets, since they consecrate the power of the people and not divine sanction.

Their desperation and denial of anything beyond their own self-importance remind us of Dan Rather's and CBS's last-ditch attempt to hold onto the power that is slipping beyond their grasp as they are swept inexorably into the dustbin of history.

Comments

[heraldblog]

Does it strike anyone as odd that the most illiberal US administration in recent history is bringing liberal, secular democracy to Iraq? That a President who wants to tear down the wall between church and state in this country is working hard to erect that very same wall elsewhere?

[Sissy Willis]

What are you talking about, sir? No one's trying to tear down any wall between church and state. I recommend you go back and read The establishment clause, which begins "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . ." As Wikipedia explains, "Contrary to popular belief, the phrase 'separation of church and state' appears in no founding American document."

At the same time, I do admire your appreciation that the administration is taking liberal, secular democracy to Iraq.

[goomp]

Sisu tells it like it is. Thank you Sisu.

[Teresa]

First... I have a feeling Tiny works hard at looking purrfectly beautiful - to aid in the campaign for food. *grin*

Second... great answer to heraldblog. I am continually amazed at how many people are afraid of Christians (since it doesn't seem to apply to any other religion that I've noticed) to the point where they lose perspective and sometimes rationality - not to mention forgetting anything they studied about the constitution.

Third... if Iraq is as lucky as we have been - their citizens will be arguing about these types of trivialities in about 100 years too. Let's hope so for their sake!

[The Prop]

There is something about a ballot box that inspires -- if not martyrdom, hopefully -- at least patriotism.

After a decade of morose grousing I was personally reinspired by the anti-Marcos elections in the Philipines back in the 1980s. Specifically by a photo of a patriot (no other word applies) clasping on to a ballot box with both arms while one soldier clubbed him and another tried to take the box away for some pro-Marcos tampering. People chained themselves to ballot boxes in that election and it turned the tide.

The political history of the Philipines hasn't been spotless since then, but no one can argue it hasn't substantially improved. I am hoping for the same result in Iraq.