The Smell of Democracy!

Today is Election Day here in Mali and I had the amazing opportunity to watch democracy in action. Malians were voting for mayors (not for president). As I walked to my friend's house to meet her and walk to the voting place many people stopped me and asked me if I was going to vote. What excitement! What pride! What is wrong with these people?! I can't vote in Mali. I told them this and they laughed. This, however, did not make me any less excited to watch the free people of Mali make decisions about their leaders DEMOCRATICALLY! I was thinking this as I walked right through a puddle of disgusting gray, murky water and decided that, perhaps, in Mali, Democracy has a different smell than it does in the United States. Liberty, freedom, pursuits of happiness, etc. are all at the end of roads full of gray, murky water. Gross. Okay, anyway, I finally made it to the voting place, I went to my friend's house and was then escorted by 5 small children to the school where people were voting. I don't know what I was expecting. I suppose the actual act of voting is pretty boring everywhere (except in Iraq where they all got their fingers painted blue) and without Wolf Blitzer and Chris Matthews elections are just people making check marks and then reading the newspaper the next day. Nevertheless, I had pumped myself up for a very boring morning.

My friend was helping people sign in to vote and so I sat outside and watched for about 5 minutes. There weren't any fights or brawls, there wasn't an uprising or riots, it was all eerily organized. I suppose I should be glad about this, but you would all have a lot more interesting things to read if my day had been more eventful.

The great thing about this is it does show democracy in action. Malians are just as capable and excited about voting as anyone and when it comes down to it, just as organized. Apparently Malians vote for the person they know no matter how corrupt or dishonest they are but that's not necessarily corruption. It's just Malian, I suppose. So, rest assured that someone is the new mayor in a bunch of little villages in Mali...and that Democracy here smells a little like burnt plastic.