I’ve read several articles over the past year or so about how George W Bush and the Republicans “stole” the last US election from John Kerry.  For that matter, he won in 2000 over Al Gore via some pretty dodgy dealings in Florida.  But reading this, really makes me wonder about the operation of democracy in the United States.

Now I didn’t think John Kerry impressive at all as an alternative president to George Bush, so I don’t really have any axe to grind over him losing.  I would have preferred Al Gore to have won in 2000, as I think he would have made a better president.

What really astounds me is the lack of complete outrage from the American public, and in particular the media there, over all the irregularities in voter enrolment, conduct of the election and counting of the votes.  Evidently there were crooked things done in (Ohio in particular) 2004, and Florida still stinks from the way its state officials rigged the 2000 election.   Imagine if these things happened here in Australia (or I would expect most modern democratic nations).  No way would the apparent loser of the election concede defeat in the face of the scandals that seem to have happened.  No way would the press have rolled over and accepted it as the way it is.  I would say that a government that was seen to have been elected illegitimately would be hounded out of office by public and media pressure – the calls for a fresh election would be overwhelming.

Following the 2000 election results, it struck me what a shambles the US electoral system was.  There isn’t really a federal system … elections are conducted by thousands of local government bodies, under some degree of control by their respective states.  Clearly there is much partisan involvement by politicians and aspiring politicians in conducting those elections.  Would it be so hard for the US to run its elections in a uniform way across the country, conducted by independent officials?  Just about everywhere else in the democratic world does it that way.  I’m not aware of any huge complaints about Australian elections, or any suggestion that the results were tampered with, or didn’t reflect the votes actually cast, or that vast numbers of people were denied the opportunity to vote.

Technorati Tags: US elections, George W Bush, John Kerry, Al Gore, vote rigging

Following the Haditha murders, US commanders have recognised deficiencies in the training of their soldiers, and have announced extra training.  This will focus on the “legal, moral and ethical standards on the battlefield”, according to Gen Peter Chiarelli, operational commander in Iraq.   Interesting comments in the same article about Australian soldiers disbelief of the willingness of US forces to shoot first, ask questions later.

The month long training will emphasise “professional military values and the importance of disciplined, professional conduct in combat”.  In other words, soldiers are being taught how to be professional soldiers, and fight in a civilised manner (at least in as civilised a manner as war can be fought) after they’ve been in the combat zone already.  Seems arse-about to me!

I wonder how much of the attitudes and behaviour of some elements of the US forces in Iraq is driven by the crazy American gun culture, and also comes from a complete lack of respect for the Iraqi civilian population.  Beats me every time how a civilised country can have so many people stupid enough to believe they have some god given right to arm themselves, and that this is constitutionally protected forever.  And a gun lobby so powerful that few politicians in the US are willing to take it on.  Does anyone ever stop to think that all the stuff about right to bear arms and a well regulated militia may have been relevant in the context of a new and growing nation in the 1700′s, but is completely out of touch with today’s realities?

Technorati Tags: Iraq, Haditha, military training, gun culture, Second Amendment, right to bear arms