During my brief experience in local government, I've come to the realization that democracy is messy. If you imagine a well oiled machine, humming along ever so efficiently you will be imagining the antithesis of a representative form of government. I used to think that democracy entailed a group of reasonable individuals grappling with difficult issues and finally coming to a decision after a careful and deliberate process. Now I know differently.
The reality is that there are a variety of reasons why people in government vote one way or the other for a particular issue. Sometimes the reason consists only of pride or it could be due to loyalty toward a specific individual or group. At other times, a representative will support an issue for reasons that are unclear even to that person. Debates about an issue are rarely centered on logic. Often, logic just sits at the periphery ready to be used as a handy prop in case it's needed.
Fortunately, all of this mess is an important part of democracy. If it's only efficiency that you want, you'd do well to look to the likes of Hitler and Stalin. I would imagine that most decisions made during their time in power were generally very logical and efficient, and also very disastrous. Somehow, the fact that democracy is a messy business is also it's strength. I don't understand it and sometimes it's really annoying, but it has worked pretty well for our nation and it works for other nations.
Right now it's easy to grow impatient with the rate of change in Iraq. It seems that every day we hear of unfortunate and tragic events. Yet, I believe that Iraq is slowly stumbling toward democracy. The messy state of affairs there gives me hope that Iraq will emerge from the ruin caused by Saddam into a vibrant, and democratic, nation.