Thursday, February 09, 2012

AN AFRICAN ELECTION

AN AFRICAN ELECTION is a fascinating documentary about the 2008 presidential election in Ghana.

It's always interesting to see a foreign culture, but this film in particular shows a few things that we Americans take for granted. These people line up at 4AM to stand in line for 10 hours in the hot sun just to cast their vote. And when they finish, they don't go home, they stay there to watch the votes get counted, as the crowd chants the count along with the election commission.

That's a far cry from the Republican presidential primary this week in Colorado, where turnout was less that 10%, even though you could mail in the ballot.

It's very heartening to see a country where people truly believe in their government and take an active role in it. Even some of the people who appear uneducated have strong opinions about how government exists to provide health, education and food to the people.

It turns out that the contest is indeed contested, and there are plenty of parallels to the American election of 2000. I highly recommend this doc.

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