All Democratic Elections
Beginning to Look the Same: Berlusconi Tries to Pull a Bush
The Italians have just had a close election where the left candidate, Romano Prodi, eeked out a narrow victory over the right candidate, incumbent Silvio Berlusconi. Prodi’s popular margin of 25,000 out of 38 million votes cast is small.
Ever
since the 2000 presidential election when Bush lost but took office anyway,
incumbent losers are trying to remain in office if the margin is small. This is what Gerhard Schroeder tried to do
in the German elections last year, when he lost by a small margin to Angela
Merkel.
Now,
Silvio Berlusconi is refusing to concede defeat, claiming the election was won
by fraud. This is highly unlikely in an
election with an 84% turnout. The truth
is that all democratic elections are beginning to look similar. The electorate is evenly and closely
divided. Is it really possible that the
United States, Germany and Italy; where the issues vary widely from country to
country, are all split 50-50 down the middle?
The
answer is yes, because in every country the voters are trying to get the
politicians to work together for the benefit of the whole, instead of allowing
the political partisanship to paralyze the government in the face of pressing
economic and social issues. So far, no
country has succeeded; but the fact that world leaders, beginning with Bush,
show such utter contempt for the judgement of the people they are supposed to
lead should make the current drift toward war, economic collapse and rising
taxes completely comprehensible.
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