Toward the primaries

Published: Saturday August 04, 2007

Writing after Turkey's parliamentary elections last week, a columnist for the Turkish Daily News pointed out that the voting there was by old-fashioned paper ballot. Recalling the fiasco with voting by punched ballots in Florida in 2001 and the flawed electronic voting system now used in many U.S. states, the columnist argued that the system used in Turkey "is much more efficient, simple, and democratic." (Advena Avis, "Let's praise Turkey's election," July 28)

The column was an apt reminder that people around the world measure their democracy by reference to the United States. At its best, America can serve as a beacon of democracy. At its worst, American practice becomes an excuse for arbitrary rule.

How America practices democracy matters profoundly to us as American citizens. It matters to us also as advocates for freedom in Armenia, in its neighborhood, and around the world.

hould people in budding democracies accept as a universal fact of life that the law does not apply to the powerful, that officials can flout the law with impunity? Just over a year ago, New Jersey's attorney general got a call from her companion, saying he had been pulled over for driving an unregistered vehicle, and the van was about to be impounded. She showed up - to collect their belongings, she later said. But her presence could be seen as an attempt to intimidate state troopers into letting her companion off easy. She resigned under pressure.

Recounting one of any number of such stories from America tells people abroad that it is possible to have and enforce a high standard for official conduct. The outright politicization of the U.S. Department of Justice in the current administration, on the other hand, sends the opposite message: that it's natural for high officials to use the criminal justice system for partisan advantage.

This is not good for American democracy and it hurts our collective efforts to build democracy abroad.

We can make similar arguments for the importance of American leadership by example in a range of important areas.

The environment is one such area.

Diversification of energy sources is a second.

Nuclear nonproliferation is a third. It goes hand in hand with a commitment to persuasion and diplomacy as the primary way to resolve disputes.

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As we prepare to vote in the Democratic or Republican primaries, we have some tough questions as Armenian-Americans for the would-be nominees for president.

Clearly, candidates must say unequivocally that there is never an excuse for genocide, or for genocide denial, and the United States must be a leader in the struggle against both. We will have serious doubts about the integrity and fitness for office of any candidate who cannot convincingly say as much.

But that is only the beginning. Armenian-Americans, we believe, are sophisticated voters who will take a holistic view of each candidate. Anyone can talk about America's military strength and material wealth. We will look to candidates who can go beyond that and have a commitment to an America that leads by example.