A Reminder to Read the Foot Notes

When we speak of promoting "democracy", never forget that it is really shorthand for voting and rule of law. We assume the latter because it is pretty ingrained here as the necessary companion to voting, but plenty of countries show that it is possible to have voting without democracy because rule of law is absent.

Speaking of Kenya:

Uhuru Kenyatta, indicted for crimes against humanity, was declared winner of Kenya's presidential election on Saturday, but rival Raila Odinga said he would challenge the outcome in court and asked supporters to avoid violence.

This isn't even getting to the big violators like Iran and Venezuela.

Not that we should be cocky in the West, when you consider Italy.

I won't be so cruel as to suggest America as an example, too. But we do have problems with rule of law, at times. We're at least not at the fascist clown stage. But even without big floppy shoes, this isn't really what we signed up for, is it?

Democracy* is hard. Voting is easy. Voting is certainly necessary for democracy, but they aren't the same thing.