We're pretty smug about elections in the United States. Or we were, until the Florida fiasco. But we do tend to run orderly transfers of power, even if the vote-tallying technology is a hundred years old. Recycle those old
voting machinesElsewhere, democratic elections are a nice idea that degenerates into a ballot-stuffing free-for-all. The recent presidential election in Zimbabwe is a case in point. Supposedly, Robert Mugabe won, which our government doesn't approve of. "We are not recognizing the outcome of the election because we think it's flawed," said President Bush. Secretary of State Colin Powell whined that Zimbabwe's election "lacked democratic legitimacy."
Well, OK. We have a country full of voting machines that are outmoded, but still light-years ahead of what's available elsewhere. Let's give 'em away to countries that could use them. The United Nations could oversee Third World elections as advisers and technology consultants. Then we'd have no one to blame but ourselves.
--Burl Burlingame