Thursday, December 15, 2005

Ridiculous complaints about distance to polling places for ex-patriot Iraqis - it could be 5000 miles!

It certainly should be that each Iraqi has every opportunity to exercise their newly acquired franchise, but the complaints of the Iraqis in Detroit about hard to find polling places are a little extreme. NPR discussed some difficulties and complaints about how far some voters had to travel to participate in today's Iraq elections. How can there be complaints? The distance to the polling place could be 5000 miles instead of 15 or even 150. The election is in another country! Staying here is convenient no matter how you slice it.

The story misses the point. Turnout for the elections in Iraq is probably going to be higher than turnout in this country, even for those Iraqis that are in this country and can't go back to Iraq to vote. They seem almost jubilant to exercise their right to vote. More power to them!

Americans should be as enthusiastic when it is our turn. No matter who you vote for, vote!

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