The Vote's the Thing

[vakkotaur]

The vote in Iraq on whether or not to accept the Constitution might very well have a result that the Constitution in its present form is rejected. That will not mean the vote failed. The vote only fails if it doesn't happen, or the result is somehow made meaningless.

If the Constitution is accepted, then the Iraqi people will have spoken and said, "Yes, that is acceptable." The government will have gotten permission from the people.

If the vote is to reject, then the Iraqi people will have spoken and told their government, "No, that is not good enough. We demand better." That's the very core of representative democracy, that the people can demand that their representatives actually be representative.

Which will it be? We shall see. But no matter which way the vote goes, the important thing is that Iraqis will be voting and having a real influence on how their government will operate.

Comments

[nefaria.livejournal.com]

I'm hopeful too. :) The Shiites, the Kurds, and about half the Sunnis seem to be content to resolve their differences democratically instead of with guns and explosives. If they can convince most of the other half of the Sunnis and keep the foreign fighters out, I think they'll have sound footing on the path out of the quagmire.

There was some interesting stuff in that intercepted letter from Zawarhi/alQaida to Zarqawi, the leader of alQaida in Iraq. Zarqawi's dreams for a Cindy Sheehan style full American withdrawl from Iraq was compelling evidence that it'd be the wrong thing for the US to do. I was also amused to see that the al Qaida leadership wants Zarqawi to move from terrorism to political activism; apparently Zarq is too extreme even for al Qaida. The crowning touch was the plea for money at the bottom of the letter; I'm imagining al Qaida launching PBS-style pledge drives on Al Jazeera just to keep afloat.

[kelloggs2066.livejournal.com]

Hooray! Hope! :)

[shelbystripes.livejournal.com]

Of course, it could alternately be that the Constitution passes, but a chunk of the population boycotts the election, and then tries to declare it invalid since they didn't participate in it, leading to an inevitable civil war that splits the nation in half entirely.

Nah, that's never happened before. People are always honest and respectful when a vote passes, whether they chose to vote or not, right?

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

Considering that has already happened, to a degree, and been rejected by the vast majority, it's improbable - though not impossible - that such actions will get very far. The ones most likely to try, the Sunni, have recently been fighting each other. Infighting amongst what was to be a single faction doesn't speak well of their chances of success.

The Shia and the Kurds, and a number of Sunnis as well, have tasted real freedom and are not likely to give up on it very easily.