The World Votes?!

I recently stumbled across a website called The World Votes, where disgruntled foreigners can “vote” in a mock US Presidential election in November. Although there is a disclaimer that it is not an anti-Bush website, it certainly has the format to be one. The basic rationale is that case for wanting to vote in an American election, because
the policies of the American president affect him. Its founder, Wiebe de Jager, of the Institute for Multiparty Democracy in The Hague. It rationale is:

….When Americans vote this year they will be electing a president who affects every person in the country, no matter what state he lives in or for whom she voted. However, the president Americans elect will also have a direct and often more profound effect on millions more who will not be allowed to vote at all in November's election: basically, everyone else in the world. If America were truly serious about democracy it would allow the citizens of Iraq, for example, to vote for the president of the United States. The real decisions about Iraq will be made in the United States -- and largely by its president -- for years to come. If Iraqis could vote for president, there would likely be a more full explanation from the current U.S. administration about exactly how many Iraqis died in the war, how the contracts for rebuilding Iraq and drilling its oil are being awarded, and how a plan would be implemented to ensure the electricity stays on and the water running. Under such an idea of democracy, however, the list of countries whose citizens should be able to vote for president extends well beyond Iraq. The United States has a military presence in approximately 140 countries around the world. It decides if and how AIDS drugs will be administered in Africa. It pushes for the privatization of energy in India while shaping land reform in Tajikistan. America's "War on Drugs" fills prison cells in Bolivia and Colombia. U.S. government-subsidized corn and cotton flood the world market, impoverishing farmers from Mexico to Egypt. America forces university funding to be cut in Nicaragua just as it determines whether Thailand or Argentina will get further loans or default on their debt. The U.S. Army holds the peace in Kosovo, helps fight off insurgents in the Philippines, and is the final word in Kabul. The president has the ability to shape all these policies. In short, his or her power over non-Americans is dramatic and sweeping…... The World Votes

I’m yawning now. Are you? Again, America is made out to be a villain. Every person in every third world country screaming, “America, what have you done for me lately?” Obviously, the foreign policies of all nations’ leaders affect each other. I would certainly want to vote in the upcoming North Korean, Iranian, and Saudi elections. Perhaps if Americans could have just voted in the Iraqi election, a war would not have been needed. Perhaps if African dictators didn’t stifle democracy, and turn a blind eye to the rapes and the wars that have spread AIDS, they wouldn’t have as serious of a problem. Perhaps if those dictators didn’t horde all the money, the people could have more money to pay for them themselves. Perhaps if such several socialistic economic policies in Argentina didn’t exist, their economy would improve and they would be able to repay their debt. Perhaps if Afghanistan didn’t have a government that harboured and trained terrorists to attack civilians in New York, then an invasion wouldn’t have been necessary. Perhaps that could have been stopped if we were able to vote in the Afghani elections in 2000. Oh, wait there were none. If Mugabe of Zimbabwe didn’t institute land reforms, Zimbabwe would still be exporting agricultural products instead of being in a famine.

These days, everyone wants to make out America to be the bad guy and I’m tired of it. Perhaps if citizens of other countries who “want to vote in US elections,” could clean up their own countries first, then American foriegn policy wouldn't effect them much.