Dear Editor,
When all the rhetoric, confetti and euphoria (much akin to a circus) of the US Democratic nomination contest is over, the post mortem will reveal whether the US passed the “democracy” test.
At present, we see a fierce competition between Senator Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. This has led some on the sidelines to marvel at how splendid American democracy is. They have pointed to the large voter turnout in all the contested states; the rapid counting of ballots and early availability of the results and the acceptance of those results by the winners and losers. “This is exactly what democracy is all about,” said one television commentator when discussing the wins on March 4th by Hillary Clinton.