Friday January 7,2005

I've Been Thinking:

I have been hearing some very pessimistic evaluations about life for the Palestinians after the election.

The negativism has come from Palestinians and Israelis alike.
They are saying that very little change will happen after the elections.
They're right, virtually nothing will change. But it's not supposed to. Not right after. Democracy is not magic.

That is exactly the point. This election is about democracy, about introducing democracy into the lives of a people for whom it is a foreign and difficult to understand concept.
Democracy is supposed to help on the grass roots level, it is not pie in the sky it is not mystical. Democracy is not ethereal. People must first be able to go to work, to make a living, to go to school, to begin the process of building a future.

Then as time progresses, the big issues can begin to be worked out.

Democracy is about individual freedom. After individual freedoms are achieved then the group can find its way. Only after people feel secure and safe. After their daily lives are fulfilled and personal dreams achieved can the larger dreams of a people be realized.

It would be useful for Iraqis to begin to think the same way.