On July 2nd Reuters, citing a report from the News Agency of Nigeria, stated that the cost of machetes has dropped by half in parts of Nigeria since the end of general elections in April. The reason, according to the story (which you can read at http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSL0246874220070702), is that the demand for machetes by political thugs has subsided now that the election season is over. European election monitors estimated, the story reported, that at least 200 people were killed in political violence in the run-up to the elections held in April of this year.
Let's think about that for a minute.
As we gear up for the 2008 presidential elections in the United States, it's useful to remember that the biggest threats we face in our political system are hot-air scalding, death by boredom, and traffic accidents on the way to the polls. We may not have a perfect system, and our political parties may be inane and tone-deaf to the issues that matter to real people, but we don't have to worry about being hacked to death by Republican or Democratic thugs as we exercise our right to vote. When you think about it this way, our endless hand-wringing over the security of electronic voting machines and penchant for litigation when the election results don't go our way don't seem so important.
Of course, if you're a seller of machetes in Nigeria, this is not a good situation. A trader quoted in the Reuters report said, "Before the conduct of the general elections, I was selling a minimum of seven machetes daily but can hardly sell one a day now."
I for one am glad that people in this country are more likely to buy ear plugs than machetes during election season.
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
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