Friday, June 19, 2009

Democracy, revisited

Iran bled their true colors this morning. The controversial election has been legitimized by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamemei. "Eleven million votes difference? Sometimes there's a margin of 100,000, 200,000, or 1 million maximum. Then one can doubt maybe there has been some rigging or manipulation or irregularities. But there's a difference of 11 million votes. How can vote rigging happen?" I don't know Ali, have you looked at the MLB All-Star game lately (specifically 1999)? Moussavi instructed his followers to boycott the morning prayers. Apparently he didn't have much hope in the system. For the same reason I don't vote for MLB All-Stars;)
True democracy is not what Iran chose in 1979. It opted for sharia law and giving ultimate power to an unelected clerical leader. Today he spoke and the people have to listen. I wrote this back in May, "If democracy is determined by fair and balanced elections and fair process of law by those who are elected, Iran has been weighed and measured and is found lacking. If democracy is to be determined as a government doing what its people want it to, Iran is in the running." At this point Iran is right here. The people complained about the lacking nature of their electoral process, and the Supreme Leader has told them what's what. If the people are truly unhappy with the outcome, we may see the country's second revolution in thirty years (and this time the US might even lend a hand, if the Iranians play their cards right: ). But something tells me the Supreme Leader has a hold on the people, as he and all he says are connected with the people's worship. According to Shia Islam tradition a fatwa, or decree from a religious scholar, could be binding--his words are as good as sharia law.
"The 10th presidential election was actually a great show in which people indicated their responsibility towards the destiny of their country. It was a great manifestation of people's participation in the affairs of their country. It depicted very well people's solidarity with their establishment,"
And so it is.

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