Molly Ivins: Sign Me Up for the Pentagon Democracy Plan

Good news: The Bush people have put out a new “strategy.” The bad news is it’s the same as the old one.

The Pentagon’s strategic review plan again commits us to promoting democracy hither and yon through such effective means as preemptive war, bombing and other good stuff.

This is the same plan we’ve been working from, with mixed results so far. In the Middle East, the Palestinians had an election and put Hamas in charge. That didn’t seem to make anyone happy. Lebanon had an election and put Hezbollah in charge. The theory that democracy would solve all problems is especially dicey in Iraq. The Iraqis have now elected an entire government, but they don’t seem to be able to get it to gel. Meanwhile, we are committed to forcing democracies into existence as though they were so many slow spring bulbs.

I do like the idea of supporting democracy, however, and think we should try it—especially here in the U.S. of A. To this end, a couple of dandy ideas are now circulating, and I think they’re worth your support and excitement. For ages, all good reformers have wanted to get rid of the Electoral College and have direct popular election of presidents, instead. The disastrous election in 2000 finally culminated in Bush v. Gore, a Supreme Court decision so bad even the court disowned it at the time.

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http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20060320_molly_ivins_democracy/