The vote is in. An
estimated 14 million Iraqi citizens made it the polls on Sunday, January 30,
2005, to cast their vote concerning the future of the war-torn nation. The election gave Iraqis a chance to prove
that they were not intimidated by the countless threats, suicide bombings, and
mortar attacks. In the midst of all of
the turmoil, many risked their lives just to cast a vote. It is believed that the turn-out was higher
than 57% of registered voters.
It will still be several days before the votes are counted,
and a new leader is officially elected.
Nonetheless, the future looks bright for Iraq. That might seem like a surprise, especially
since almost every day is tarnished by violent attacks from insurgents and
terrorists (these attacks are expected to
continue for weeks to come). The good news is that Saddam Hussein (a violent dictator who had ruled over the
nation since the 1970s) is out of power, the nation appears to be free of
weapons of mass destruction, and the citizens of Iraq have proven that they want to
have a say in their future.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean the future will be
easy. It also doesn’t mean that American
and other International troops can back up their belongings and come home.
Before American and coalition forces leave, it is important that a democratic
government is established in Iraq,
and that the new government can survive on its own. Leaders of the United
Nation, President George W. Bush--and even many of his opponents--have made
this clear in the weeks prior to the Iraqi election.
With politics aside, it’s interesting to get a “historical
perspective” on the struggles that Iraq will have to face as it
attempts to build a democratic government. There are still plenty of
insurgents within the country who reject democracy, and would rather the nation
return to its old ways. The majority of the population favors a
democratic government, though very few have ever been a part of one before.
Iraq
isn’t the first nation to start a democracy. The same couldn’t be said
for the United States
in the late 1700s. At the time, America was the first country to
try to form a government run by the people and for the people—and
there were plenty of politicians, scholars, and experts who thought it would be
impossible.
There was a common misconception about government prior to
the 17th and 18th centuries. It was often said that
an effective government gave its citizens certain rights. Men such
as English philosopher John Locke and French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau
realized that this was a dangerous mix-up. Instead, people already had
certain rights, and the best that a government could ever hope to do was to protect
those rights. A government had no authority to give people
rights, because the person’s rights existed long before the government came
around.
Thomas Jefferson acknowledged this when he wrote the
Declaration of Independence in 1776—“We hold these truths to be
self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their
Creator with inherent and inalienable rights; that among these, are life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” The United States went on to win its independence
from Great Britain
in the American Revolution. The nation was then was faced with the task
of maintaining its own government.
In 1789, the Constitution of the United
States was ratified (this came after America’s first
attempt at a government—the Articles of Confederation—proved largely
ineffective). The Constitution basically laid out the game plan for
how the American government was to work—how it was going to protect the
rights of the people. For well over 200 years, this single document has
been the centerpiece of the American democracy. In extreme cases, it has
been amended to fit the changing times, though this is
a very tedious and specific process (the guidelines for amending the
Constitution are included in the Constitution itself).
Many nations currently use some form of a democratic
system. Even countries that acknowledge their traditional monarchies (such
as England)
use a more democratic government to make political decisions. There are
literally dozens of nations that Iraq could use as a model as it
builds its new government. The true test, however,
may be whether or not the Iraqi people are prepared to take the necessary steps
to create a democracy.
