Buying votes in a Democratic state is common all over the world. Some buy votes with advertisements that lie about issues, some buy votes by promising aid to those in need, and others buy votes with cash in hand.

Lebanon’s parliamentary elections are coming, and even Amerika’s biased media giant New York Times is having a hard time ignoring the truth. The elections are not only being bought, but people are being paid large sums of money to vote a particular way. Others that live abroad are being flown home to vote at candidates expense.

… Hussein H., a jobless 24-year-old from south Beirut, is looking forward to selling his vote to the highest bidder. “Whoever pays the most will get my vote,” he said. “I won’t accept less than $800.” [New York Times]

This is Democracy at work. It is funny to see how true Democracy works. Westerners are accustomed to being lied to and deceived by their officials, so they are blind to the truth. Young democracies, like Lebanon, show the true colors of democracy.

Amerika, like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt and many more, is participating heavily in the vote buying. Amerika can not afford to allow Hezbollah to win in this elections. If Hezbollah wins, Iran will have another foot in the middle east, and Amerika will loose a foot. There are no real numbers with how much money Amerika is investing to ensure Hezbollah’s defeat, but Saudi Arabia is on Amerika’s side.

“We are putting a lot into this,” said one adviser to the Saudi government, who added that the Saudi contribution was likely to reach hundreds of millions of dollars in a country of only four million people. “We’re supporting candidates running against Hezbollah, and we’re going to make Iran feel the pressure.” [New York Times]

With so much money being spent on these elections, at least the Lebanese people are happy. They are going to receive a large amount of foreign aid directly into their pockets, rather than watch it stolen by the Lebanese administration. The most amusing part of the article is where Lebanese candidates deny that they are buying votes. It would be strange to see anyone admitting to it, this practice is very illegal even in Lebanon.

Corruption is incredibly common in Democracy. It is upsetting to hear Amerikans say that Socialism is corrupt, ignoring how corrupt their form of government is. All government is corrupt, only some governments care about the people while other governments only care for their friends.