The benefit of the system

Maybe you will think it’s not possible to elect a president every year because it costs too much money! I’ll tell you why it’s a good idea. After all these years of tyrants ruling, we have lost trust in all governments everywhere in the Arab world. In Iraq we have more than just distrust we have violence and aggression. The people badly need new thinking about democracy and also to practice that thinking in real life. Holding presidential elections every year in one fifth of the country is good practice for the people who live in the area where the election is held and for the others who are watching and waiting for their turn to also.

Every year there will be election and discussions of many subjects and that will improve the sharing of responsibilities between ordinary people and those who hold all the responsibility. The election will be barometer of people feelings, they will have chance to speak what is in their mind and say what they need. Every year the people will have the chance to remind the president about their needs and what they had been promised.

I’m thinking about continuous elections, I mean that the procedures will continue working to elect some one for some thing all the time. The problem that there is now about democracy everywhere is that when someone has been elected, they forget the promises made at the time of the election, so where does that leave us, what we can do? The best way in my opinion is this system or one similar to it. When we elect people from a specific group or one party in an area, their performance will affect their group/party next year in the election in another area. That means that they will not wait for 4 or 5 years but they need to work fast to prove that they are good so their group/party have the chance to elect more people next year, and like this they will continue to work well all the time.

Let me now speak about the financial expenses for these elections.

My friends; let us look at all Arabic countries to see how much their governments spend on elections (If there are any!!!) The answer will not surprise you, nearly nothing! This is the truth of the situation. Look at how much they spend on arms and wars, nearly everything! What a sad fact. After all that they have spoken about, that they are working for the benefit of the people and are looking for peace! How are the Arabic presidents working for peace and what are their policies? I get sick every time I think about it. Let us look at Iraq, at what Saddam spent on wars for 35 years! What would we have if he spent all that money on democracy and elections?

We need to build a new life in Iraq with a new future for the best interest of all the people; we need justice, democracy, freedom and peace. We can’t have all these free, we need to work hard and we must spend what its cost even if its cost us everything that we have. It’s not enough that we hear speeches calling for democracy and peace, we need more than songs or pictures, and we don’t need just someone telling us what democracy is! We need to do it ourselves every year, every month every day. We need to live, to drink and to eat democracy and freedom!

Spending money on practicing democracy will be a good motive for the people to get involved deeply in procedures and thinking because it’s their own money that will be spend on these elections. One more point about doing elections in only one part of the country at a time is because the people in other areas will watch and ensure tight controls to prevent fraud and unlawful actions that are common in our system.

I have in lived in Lebanon for more than 7 years and I have watched the political life here. I noticed that the people of Lebanon don’t care about what is happening in their country, it’s like they live on the moon. They don’t care about politics when there is an election for parliament because they feel that an election will change nothing! No election for the president, the election is only for the members of the parliament once every 4 or 5 years that is all. They practice democracy one time in 4 years, so how is it possible to expect that they will care about political life in their country?

Stop speaking and start working. For years and years I have heard lots of talk about helping people in the developing world to learn democracy from those who living in the so called ‘developed world’ but no one can tell us how we can establish a good basis for democracy! Now we have a unique chance in Iraq and we must grab it with both our hands to make it as good a possible chance as it can be, because it’s a unique chance on a long and hard road. So looking at it this way we must put the past behind us and let us look for a better future, whatever the cost will be. No more money for blood (Wars) we need all of our money to spend on democracy, even if the practicing of democracy will cost more than our food. I lived under Saddam control and I felt that for decades, missing freedom is more deadly than missing food!

So let us shout: DEMOCRACY BEFORE FOOD.