Iraqi Elections Demonstrate Universal Human Characteristics

Iraqi Elections Demonstrate Universal Human Characteristics
02/04/05

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

Thomas Jefferson, the author of those words, from the Declaration of Independence, must have been smiling down from the heavens when the Iraqi elections occurred on Sunday January 30, 2005. Nothing better demonstrated that liberty, self-determination and happiness are unalienable rights, handed down to all men and women. The spirit and human-longing for life, liberty and happiness is stronger than violence and threats of violence perpetrated by the terrorists such as Musab al-Zarqawi who one day before the Iraqi elections declared; "We have declared a fierce war on this evil principle of democracy and those who follow this wrong ideology."

At this point, critics of our policy in Iraq, those who cannot find the elections inspiring and hopeful, are becoming critics of the foundation of this country, of the very words Jefferson wrote over 230 years ago. Jefferson's words have proven to be universal. Whether applied to the colonial settlers in North America; Central-American countries in the 1980s; the Soviet empire in the late 1980s and early 1990s; Afghanistan last year or Iraq this year. To be against democracy is to be for tyranny.

Watching the news coverage of the Iraqi elections produced many memorable highlights. Lump-in-the-throat moments included watching Iraqis who had never known freedom or democracy feeling the awesome power of the ballot that so many Americans take for granted. One man, who was injured in a previous insurgent attack that killed his friend, said he would have "crawled to the polls to vote." Iraqis defied the terrorists who threatened to kill them and make the streets "a river of blood." Many Iraqi's wept with joy and danced in the streets as they charted their own course and a democracy was born.

The Iraqi voters and the images from Iraq spoke for themselves with simple eloquence. Unfortunately, much of the simplicity was lost in the analysis by American newscasters, journalists and prognosticators, as well as many critics of the US' Iraq policy. Many of these critics turned the Iraqi election into a referendum on President Bush or replayed the election between the President and Senator Kerry.

What happened in Iraq on January 30th should not be seen through the prism of being for or against President Bush, or Senator Kerry. Instead, the Iraqi elections should be seen as a validation of the most bedrock principles of democracy. There are universal human characteristics, and the yearning for freedom is clearly among them. The joyous reaction to voting for the first time by Iraqis, as was the case in Afghanistan only a few months earlier, is proof that all mankind values liberty and freedom - that Thomas Jefferson was correct - there are certain inalienable rights, handed down to all people by, the Creator.

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/oh03_turner/020405_Iraqi_Elections.html