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From: mike@erix.UUCP (Mike Williams)
Newsgroups: net.followup
Subject: Re: S.A., Soviets, & Sanctions
Message-ID: <1158@erix.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 8-Sep-86 20:12:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: erix.1158
Posted: Mon Sep  8 20:12:00 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 12-Sep-86 04:53:55 EDT
References: <225@mdivax1.UUCP> <334@ubc-cs.UUCP> <2368@hcrvx2.UUCP> <1023@kontron.UUCP> <2382@hcrvx2.UUCP>
Reply-To: mike@erix.UUCP (Mike Williams)
Organization: L M Ericsson, Stockholm, Sweden
Lines: 26

In article <2382@hcrvx2.UUCP> jimr@hcrvx2.UUCP (Jim Robinson) writes:
>PS Would one of those who believes that political freedom (including free
>   elections) is any less important than other human rights please 
>   explain this position?
Free elections yes. Many countries have them. Even in the USSR they
have free elections. The choice of candidates is however somewhat limited
but everyone can vote. Democratic elections are another matter. Most 
western countries claim to have democratic elections (at least they are
more democractic than the so called elections in the east). All countries
with the Anglo Saxon version of elections (including the USA, Britain etc)
can hardly be called fully democratic. Look at the turn out at the polls! How 
is it that Britain has a Conservative majority when the actual majority of the
voters voted for other parties? Only countries with some form of proportional
representation can  claim to be democratic. (By proportional representation
I mean a system where the number of seats allocated to each political party
is in direct proportion to the total number of votes cast for that party).
But then even proportional representation has its problems. It is hard for
voters to eliminate undesirable individuals.

I don't think one should be so niave to assume that ANY country has complete
political freedom (even if one could define what political freedom is). The
only thing one can say is that we have more such freedom in the west that
they have in the east. Given this perspective I value other freedoms like
free speech, freedom to travel a free press much more highly.

Mike Williams