Us and the Elections
Four years ago, I was sick and couldn't get to sleep so I decided to watch the US election coverage for a short while. I wound up watching the numbers and states dance through the night and into the morning. My strongest memory is CNN calling Florida for Gore, with a journalist remarking that if they got it wrong they'd be eating crow. Five minutes later, "pass the crow, Jim."
Now I'm in France and watching the elections again. The Ken Doll from France 2 has been sent to New York, where he explained to the viewers how the US voting system works. He had a faint look of trepidation as though he wasn't sure we'd believe in this 'electoral college' thing.
I'm torn between being pleased at how Americans have mobilised for the vote and being horrified at what they have to do in order to secure it. It makes me wonder if the Dutch would fight as hard. The only thing that caused the Dutch turnout to rise instead of fall was the murder of a politician right before the 2002 elections. (I'm thinking of NL more than NZ because of the former's recent political messiness.) Anyway, my lesson from all this is not to take my countries' democracy for granted.
I hope like hell that America will live up to its dream of democracy this time.
Now I'm in France and watching the elections again. The Ken Doll from France 2 has been sent to New York, where he explained to the viewers how the US voting system works. He had a faint look of trepidation as though he wasn't sure we'd believe in this 'electoral college' thing.
I'm torn between being pleased at how Americans have mobilised for the vote and being horrified at what they have to do in order to secure it. It makes me wonder if the Dutch would fight as hard. The only thing that caused the Dutch turnout to rise instead of fall was the murder of a politician right before the 2002 elections. (I'm thinking of NL more than NZ because of the former's recent political messiness.) Anyway, my lesson from all this is not to take my countries' democracy for granted.
I hope like hell that America will live up to its dream of democracy this time.