Election Day

For my American readers, I hope you're voting on Election Day.

Voting is sometimes referred to as a civic sacrament. I agree wholeheartedly.

There are billions of people around the world who either cannot vote or have no reasonable hope of their vote influencing an election. For example, China doesn't have elections. Singapore technically does, but the ruling party is more or less guaranteed a victory and would probably gerrymander the districts if it felt otherwise; additionally, the opposition parties are small, scattered and ineffective.

While I always condemn colonialism, I also maintain that democracy is one Western practice that, although imperfect, is good, worth vigorously exercising, and worth sharing with the rest of the world.