Personally, I would not be able to live placidly in a society that did not allow governmental elections. Perhaps if I had been born into such a society, and had no knowledge of other countries with elections I would be content to be unable to exercise any modicum of control over the future leaders of my nation. After being brought up in the US however, I couldn’t regress to a society where I was unable to vote. Last week, I registered to vote, and am looking forward to casting a vote in the November election. Although I am aware that the majority of political candidates are of a certain breed, and do not necessarily represent the nation as a whole, I am still grateful for the opportunity to influence which of these potential leaders becomes elected.
In class, we discussed the fact that elections are perhaps just a means of controlling a state, and making citizens think they have a say in the election, but in reality, they don’t. I can see this side of the argument, and I think that in certain countries with less developed political systems that are chaotic, such as Iran and many African nations, this is true. In America, elections certainly give people an outlet for political activism, but the amount of interest and activity in political matters doesn’t end at elections, as many go on to work for their chosen candidates, volunteer at polling places, campaign in their respective towns, or even run for office themselves. This shows that although elections mollify some who are not interested in being overtly political, those who seek greater influence in their country’s political system and election process will seek it out and not be satisfied with the evident de-politicizing of elections.
I generally agree with the idea that election allows some outlet for political activism. However, if we think of elections outside of just the United States, then it might be difficult to decide right away whether a country with election is a good place to live.
ReplyDeleteTake for example, Nigeria. It has one of the most corrupt democratic regime and election is almost just a disguise to claim it being a democracy. With such corrupted election, the institution serves almost no purpose it was intended to do, and this is also apparent in many countries that have the democracies forced onto them or have tried reformation but failed due to the culture and history. Thus, it is difficult to say right away that election is a sign that the country is worth living in, because the circumstances have to be taken into consideration.