Msgr. Ratermann is a Saint Louis priest missionary, serving in Bolivia since 1956, and is a founder of the Latin America Apostolate.

I frequently walk down town from the parish for the sake of exercise, to mix with the people and to go to the post office, among other things.  The walk is pleasant enough - all down hill!  Climbing hills here in the high altitude is tiring.  It takes me about 20 to 25 minutes to do the walk.  As I proceed, I almost always walk through the plaza on which the San Pedro Parish is located.  By the time I get there, I begin to see what might be in store for me as I proceed.

If there are military fellows dressed in riot gear, it means that there is probably a demonstration going on in the center of town.  Today I saw a few of them and also I ran into a lot of traffic that was not moving - all snarled up.  That too led me to believe that a demonstration would be blocking traffic.  I got to the post office with no hassel, mailed my letters and picked up incoming mail and then proceeded to walk down the main drag called “el prado.”  All clear.  Three or four blocks down from “el prado” I came upon a marching band from a local high school.  They were demanding a raise in the salaries of their teachers.  Such demonstrations are common here.

Teachers, students, factory workers, miners, rural peasants, professionals, etc., etc.  This has been a practice for a long time.  I suppose that it is in part because the political system does not respond to their expectations.  Is it a democracy or not?  Are there ways to participate other than demonstrations?  Apparently the folks do not think so; at least many of them, if not most of them.

Then I start thinking about my native land, the USA, that has given me many good gifts.  And I ask myself: is democracy working there?  From the news I can get here outside the USA, it seems pretty clear that the war in Iraq was opposed by many before it ever started, almonst unanimously outside the USA and by very many inside the USA, and that the opposition was well founded.  Was the will of the people the deciding factor then?  Is it now?

I do believe that the information we get outside the USA tends to be more objective.  So I have my doubts.  Do you?