Tim Blair

Japan just had an election last year, didn't they?

I just found out, there is an upper house election in japan in the middle of the year.

It just struck me:

Among Lefties, there is the argument that if the US (and its Coalition allies) don't leave soon and allow the Iraqi people to choose their own gov't, rather than the likes of Chalabi, then the will of the people there will have been thwarted.

When was the last time, PRIOR to forthcoming elections, that Iraqis could choose who their leader was? And where were these champions of democracy then?

At least now, there is some prospect of Iraq joining the list of countries deciding part of their fate electorally.

Yes, it seems rather strange the people wanting us/US out of Iraq are the ones talking about democracy.

Though maybe Strongbad has a word of advice for these lefties who hold electorial ambitions in this vertible Year of Elections.

America has thousands of elections every year. There are 86,000 governments in the US and God knows how many elected positions. For foreigners, it's federal elections, and above all the Presidency that counts, but for New Yorkers, say, the Mayoral elections may well be more important. The result is to keep American politics in a state of permanent election fever, making the passage of legislation which doesn't yield immediate political dividends very difficult (but not impossible).

I think Strongbad says this to the lefties: "Your head a splode!"

Can the world economy handle all that vote buying at the same time?

?? The EU has elections? I thought they just passed posts around like the baton in a track meet!