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Triumph of the Will
Balkans Election
Season
For three successor states of the former Yugoslavia, this fall is all about voting. Macedonian parliamentary elections were held this past weekend, with predictable results. Serbian presidential elections are next on September 29, followed by a general vote in Bosnia-Herzegovina on October 5. It is a time of choice, a time of civic responsibility, a time to reaffirm commitment to democracy.
It is also entirely bogus.
Sacred Rituals
Every political system needs something that would give it legitimacy. For most of human history, that role was played by religion, from the "gods" of ancient Egypt to the "divine right" of European monarchs. In the 20th century, however, the altars of priests were replaced by ballot boxes, as the world largely embraced the new religion – democracy.
Professing belief in "democracy" is seen as a mark of righteousness, so much that dictators across the Third World hide behind the democratic title of "President." Almost every party in the former Socialist bloc has "Democratic" in its name. So did most of the formerly Socialist countries, for that matter. And the Balkans is a very representative case of this phenomenon, as the place where democracy is raw, primeval and unadulterated.
Just as more primitive religions honor ritual more than the meaning behind it, so the Balkans democracy honors the act of voting: as a sacred ritual that needs to be performed in a certain manner at a certain time, in order to bestow legitimacy upon the chosen leader(s). The Election is a Portal to Power, the Sacrament of Governance, and the Triumph of the (People’s) Will.
The entire sordid spectacle certainly did not impress the great American author Robert A. Heinlein:
"Democracy is based on the assumption that a million men are wiser than one man. How's that again? I missed something." (Time Enough for Love)
Well, it does beat human sacrifice. But not by much.
http://www.antiwar.com/malic/m-col.html
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