Saturday, the Ukrainian Parlaiment rejected the highly tainted results of their presidential elections amidst Pelenor Fields-sized protests, ballot stuffing accusations, exit poll irregularities, and a conventional wisdom that indicates the incumbant, Viktor Yanukovych, isn't the favorite of the majority of Ukrainians. Meanwhile, the state run press who previously gave unwavering support to Yanukovych has decided to endorse the opposition and challenger Viktor Yushchenko (who is either being poisoned or is very, very ill).
Is the Ukraine looking appealing right about now? The election news there is all too familiar here -- except that we don't have the massive vigils and protests; only small factions of our legislative branch are acting; and the media has laughed off the issue with barely more than a couple of ho-hum column inches.
Today, Bush said this about the Ukrainian crisis, "There's just a lot of allegations of vote fraud that placed their election, the validity of their elections, in doubt." Is he talking about our elections or their's?
Apparently, we in America have the whole election/democracy thing down pat and the Ukrainian system is a wreck. In terms of the elections themselves we're on equally ridiculous footing.
However, the reactions in the respective aftermaths are as different as night and day, and we're the night.
The major difference between us and them is that they actually seem to care about democracy -- at every level. Look at the protests. Even in 2000, nothing like that happened here. And those of us here who actually do care about the veracity of our electoral system (if you can call it that) are assigned Chicken Little status. The idear of exporting democracy around the world seems to be seriously draining our own supply here at home.