On Aug 17, 2006, at 3:38 PM, Bryan Atinsky wrote:
> Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
>>
>> In principle, we have to accept other peoples' choices even when
>> those
>> aren't choices we make for ourselves, unless they make war on us or
>> exterminate an ethnic group or do both, a la fascists: e.g., the
>> Palestinian people voted for Hamas this January, so others --
>> including all Israelis -- should have accepted that choice, rather
>> than organizing economic boycotts of it, kidnapping elected Hamas
>> leaders, destroying Gaza again, and so on.
>>
>
> You know, I agree with you here in practice, but not in principal.
> What
> does it mean to respect an other’s choices in a democratic election?
Yoshie's quick to point out the low participation rates in US elections whenever someone argues that Americans have more or less chosen their rulers. Hamas got about 45% of the popular vote, less than George W did in 2000 and 2004.
Doug