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As an observer from another country (Australia), it strikes me that while Americans can debate eternally whether the election was hijacked or not, most people are missing the truly staggering question: How can a modern democracy - a country that considers itself to be the beacon of freedom and democracy to the rest of the world - have an electoral system so broken that debates about legitimacy are even conceivable?
Are there any other true democracies in the world where there is no uniform electoral practice across the country, supervised by an independent, non-partisan electoral commission? How can Americans justify any system that allows party campaign personnel to have any role at all in determining electoral practices, electoral roll composition, voting mechanisms, or recounts?
Do these anomalies not strike average Americans, regardless of political affiliation, as obscene, let alone inefficient, shambloic, and embarrassing?
In a genuine democracy, the question of partisan interference in a national election should be ridiculous. In most modern countries it is unthinkable by all but the maddest tin-hatters. Any country - even America - which allows a system fundamentally flawed at all levels is flirting with dictatorship and tyranny. And when such a country also possesses an arsenal the size of America's, with a suitably militarist culture, it is a chilling prospect for the rest of the world.
Americans frequently remind themselves that theirs is the most free, most freedom-loving, most democratic country in the world. For people in many other countries, this brings at least a wry smile. For while America may once have led the world in these things, those days are long past. Many countries have caught up and gone past. Their achievements have come from hard work and pincipled commitment to democratic ideals, not from rhetorical self-delusion.
For it is not America's past that will make or break democracy. It is not patriotic slogans that will protect you. Only your systems and institutions can do this. Any American - regardless of political affiliation - who cares about democracy and freedom should be very, very worried about what has been created.
