What is Democracy?

It has been four years since September 11th. Since then we have suffered, struggled, built ourselves back up and are now finally getting back to life the way it was--or so we'd like to think. George W. Bush was re-elected in 2004 (has it really only been a year?), and after all of this time many people are finally beginning to wonder what his real plan for America is. Does he even have a plan for America or is it just personal (aka oil holdings)? On July 31st, Mike Wallace of "60 Minutes" interviewed Vladmir Putin, Presidnet of Russia, and his views on American democracy really opened my eyes.

Let's begin the simple way: What is democracy? According to good old Merriam Webster, democracy is "1a: government by the people; 1b: a goverment in which the supreme power is vested in in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system od respresentation usually involving periodically held free elections." To me that tranlates as Americans have at least some say in what happens in this country. Yes, we hold free elections in order to supposedly elect those we feel will do a good job in running the country on a higher, more sophisticated level. But once elected, do these people actually listen to us? Let's see what the electoral college has to say about this.

Through our votes, we are actually sending a slate of voters to the electoral college to make the final decision. We are note voting for a presidential candidate, we are voting for other people who vote for the president. We don't even get to vote for the electors. They are chosen by the candidate's party. In the end, though, the electoral votes usually align with the popular vote (except in four cases where the winning candidates did not win the popular vote: Rutherford Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, John Quincy Adams and you guessed it, George W. Bush).

Putin points out that the Russian president is elected directly by the people. He said he thought this "might be more democratic." I think so. He also pointed out that in the last election between Bush and Gore, the final decision was made by the court. What's the point of pushing Americans ro vote if ther vote doesn't really count? It almost seems as though the popular vate is cast just to see how the people's opinion compares to the electoral vote. what was this years push to vote, "Vote or Die?" What's the difference, America is dead already.

Now that our forefather's idea of democracy has been rewritten, let's push the revised version on the rest of the world. Is it just me or is there a problem with pushing your ideas on another person, let alone an entire country? The most recent example, of course, is Iraq. I'm sure we can all agree that Saddam Hussein was/is a tyrant, and something needed to be done. But it's all in how it was handled. He's now in jail and ready for trial, and the entire country of Iraq is in an uproar because we're over there pushing our ideas and beliefs on them.

And what does Putin have to say about this? “Democracy cannot be exported to some other place. This must be a product of internal domestic development in a society,” says Putin. “But if the U.S. were to leave and abandon Iraq without establishing the grounds for a united country, that would definitely be a second mistake.”

Sure give them guidelines and outlines. Answer their questions if they ask for help, but don't push to make another America in a place that doesn't want it. Since democracy comes from the people, the people must want it first. Think about it, September 11th happened because certain groups and people in the Middle East hate America. They hate how we function, what we believe, everything we stand for. Seriously, would you stick your hand into a rattlesnake's den?

Apparently so. Now we have service men and women dying everyday or coming home permanently damaged. And for what? Personally, I think it's America's greed in the oil industry. The longer we can stay over there and control what's going on, the longer we will have access to their oil supplies. Give it up G.W. You're family has made its money in oil. Try giving something back to the American people.

Think about this for a minute: We fought back against the British in the 1700's because we didn't like the way they were running this country. We won, and we established ourselves as a democracy. The Iraqi people will continue to fight back against America until we leave. It's not going to stop anytime soon unless someone takes a stand. Terrorism is a two-sided coin. Which side are you on?

Not too long ago, Russia was a communist state. From the time that communism was banished until now, it seems as though the Russians have made far bigger strides towards democracy than America has in the past 229 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. If our forefathers could see us now, I think they'd keel over dead. On November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address and two phrases come to mind: "we here highly resolve these dead shall not have died in vain" and "that government of the people by the people for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

So Mr. Bush, are you planning on doing anything about this downward spiral?

Pirate fact: Sailing meant weeks of boredom searching for prey, with only short, random bursts of excitement as victims were sighted, boarded and plundered. With not much to occupy their attention, conflicts, and ultimately fights were common. The captain would intervene, and control them with either fear or respect. The captain did not have the last word, as in many cases the pirate vessel was run democratically. Need I say more?