It is important for Americans to remember that their election process does not exist in a vacuum. The process does not take place in a voting booth behind a drawn curtain. It takes place in the open, often under the far too flaw-highlighting bright lights of world attention. Particularly, I think, the candidacy of a minority man, Barack Obama, and a woman, Hillary Clinton draws international attention to the US process of choosing leaders. I’m certain the chaotic practice of caucuses, delegates and primaries seems quite insane to many people in many different countries. As Winston Churchill said, “democracy is the worst form of government in the world - except for all the others.”
The world court of public opinion is not swayed by jingoistic sound bytes about what America wants to be. It can see American protestations about human rights in China on a split screen side by side with Guantanemo. There is no spin doctoring of the pre-emptive war with Iraq with platitudes about self determination. There are no filters between the juxtaposition of monitors at remote third world polling places and the Supreme Court decision after the Gore-Bush Florida election. World public opinion does not concern itself with being politically correct. It does not have to worry about offending anyone. Value judgments are being made everyday about what the United States says it stands for and what it does. It is important that the United States does not preach one thing while doing another.
The world can also see that the United States has one of the lowest voter turnout rates in the free world. It was forty years ago this summer during the Chicago democratic convention that the chant first went up. “The whole world is watching”. People in Serbia are watching, people in Palestine, Israel, and Venezuela. One vote says a lot to the rest of the world about who America is and what it stands for. So does one non-vote.
By Myron Gushlak
