#1896: Crucial vote : Morse comments

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: oloffsonram <oloffsonram@globelsud.net>


Elections are coming and it seems the electoral apparatus is starting 
to kick into gear...i see advertisements in the streets, commercials on 
the television, and i hear public service announcements on the 
radio...there's talk of observers and i've even met a few people who 
are in town to organize the event....haiti, being a country of smoke 
screens and mirrors, has forced me to look at specific "indicators" to 
determine what is going to happen in the near future...my current 
"indicator" for the upcoming elections is voter registration... when 
some one talks to me of elections i ask them if they have their voter 
registration card yet...will the people register to vote?...will the 
national voting infrastructure be in place?... here's an analysis, a 
sort of devil's advocate to the process:

1)the masses are skeptical of the democratic process...only those on 
the inside seem to be enjoying the spoils of democracy(the candidate, 
not the voter)...the great majority is still locked out(as jesse 
jackson would put it)...a lot of promises, few rewards...

2)no one is going to go out on a limb by endangering their lives or 
their family (been there, done that)...if the social climate is tense, 
people will stay indoors and not go register...this plays into the 
hands of a destabalizer...

3)to this day people are put into and taken out of elected office 
regardless of elections, whether they be mayors, senators or deputies...

4) there is no clear cut election issue or cause that speaks directly 
to the voter...

5)there is no obvious enemy to vote against...

6)people might want to vote, but they're not really sure who the 
candidates are...the people haven't been inspired yet...

7)the apparent divisiveness of the majority party is creating 
confusion... 

8)not enough job creation...

9)violence, instability, rock throwing, urine throwing, all serve to 
derail the process...

i'm not trying to put a damp rag on the initiative, i'm just trying to 
figure out what our good intentions might be up against...no sense 
blindly going into something that could turn out to be a mess if not 
handled properly...

richard morse