By Edmond Y. Azadian
When President Obama launched his healthcare reform bill, he triggered a nationwide controversy. The most vocal opponents of the bill took their position in order to express their opposition to the president rather than the content of the bill. Therefore, any legislative move by the president seemed toxic.
To dramatize the controversy, political satirist Jon Stuart, the former host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” conducted a survey, asking people whether they favored Obamacare or Affordable Healthcare. Lo and behold, the latter turned out to be the winner. The farce, of course, is that the people were choosing the very same bill presented under two different labels.
If that degree of ignorance is tolerated in the most democratic country in the world, some latitude can be allowed for the electorate in Armenia, which is facing a referendum on constitutional reforms on December 6.
As of this writing, polls taken in Armenia indicate that 50 percent of the voting public is undecided. That may be the result of a variety of reasons: either the constitutional reforms have not been properly explained to the voting public or the voters are overwhelmed by the pressing demands of their livelihood — because of rampant poverty — or there is general apathy towards any political issues.
But since the constitution will determine the course of their daily lives in the future, it must be taken seriously so that the public does not miss this opportunity to make its position heard.