Hah, I ran into the same thing in Sweden, since I was there only a few months after the Bush v Gore decision. The Swedes (such wonderful, if sometimes painfully, forthright people) were absolutely stunned that we didn't descend into utter anarchy when our electoral college didn't match up with our popular vote. Apparently they were on tenterhooks that we would all go running into the streets, flip over cars, burn down buildings, and who knows whatever other madness they thought would come over us. I'm not sure whether they were more astonished that we didn't riot, or that we actually took the whole thing rather nonchalantly, for the most part. (Were there even any protests? I can't recall, but if there were, they were mere blips.)
Sometimes seeing how other countries have done such a better job of incorporating democratic principles into their countries (especially post-WWII), it's hard to recall that they have, within a lifetime, a memory of very different ways of doing things. It's been far, far, far out of any living memory that America didn't have (at least in general) even the basic outlines of its democracy, however imperfect. My impression is that those newer democracies therefore see themselves as fragile, kind of by definition -- so when we're not quite so fragile, they're a little surprised.
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Date: 18 Dec 2012 03:00 am (UTC)Sometimes seeing how other countries have done such a better job of incorporating democratic principles into their countries (especially post-WWII), it's hard to recall that they have, within a lifetime, a memory of very different ways of doing things. It's been far, far, far out of any living memory that America didn't have (at least in general) even the basic outlines of its democracy, however imperfect. My impression is that those newer democracies therefore see themselves as fragile, kind of by definition -- so when we're not quite so fragile, they're a little surprised.