10/26/2004 05:19:22 PM|||Nathan Moore|||

One presidential election out of the way, one to go. Hopefully a sufficient number of rivals will recognize Karzai's election as something legitimate and worth respecting. Democracy is a fragile creature, and is never so vulnerable than at the beginning.

Remember, there was a popular call to make George Washington king after the defeat of the British. To say that democracy cannot exist in Central Asia is simply wrong, as it is no more at home anywhere than where the people want their will expressed. Democracies flourish throught the less developed world. It just needs help and commitment.

Just like our democracy did.

And our freedom that we so ungraciously enjoy required defeating the most powerful nation on earth, with a superior navy and far superior numbers. It required complete war over all of our territory, and victory resulting in a prolonged depressionary and inflationary state. In short, if George Washington was judged by the economy when he ran for reelection, things may not have turned out the way they did.If I was betting on the outcome, the smart bet would have been on the Brits from the beginning. And I probably would not have figured that "winning the peace" (perhaps the most misguided and trite cliche currently bandied about) would have come easy for the former colonies, as they were rife with jealously and suspicion for one another, not to mention hesitancy and apprehension of that new creation, the federal government. The beginning of our nation, far from glorious, appeared especially bleak. Iraq and Afghanistan, in the grand scheme of transitional democratic societies, are on the fast track. They have a model, and they have the most powerful nation in the world helping them, not opposing them.

So why the pessimism, my Democratic collegues? What are you angry, those on the Angry Left? Are things really that bad, or has the thirst for power just become that unquenchable?

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