Hobbes

Andrew Sullivan has rounded up some commentary on the situation in Iraq, which some see as a Hobbesian nightmare.  Tonight, Mort Kondracke was on television talking about how terrorists in Iraq are handing out flyers saying 'if you try to vote your blood will run in the streets.'  NBC News also ran a story tonight about how terrorists have targeted schools where voting will take place for bombings.  Even before the voting begins they're blowing them up.  First, pray for our troops who trying to make a democratic election possible.  Second, give thanks you live in a place where democratic practices and institutions are so entrenched--last fall, nearly 80% of people voted in South Dakota.  Sometimes when we write about "South Dakota Politics," the topic that launched this blog, we forget how much we've assumed.  Third, remember Afghanistan, where 10 million people registered to vote and 8 million went to the polls.  That's 80% too, just like in South Dakota.  And 80% of the registered women in Afghanistan voted.  Fourth, pray that the anti-democratic forces of Hobbesian chaos are defeated on Sunday and that the Iraqis get the same chance as the Afghans.