The mainstream media hadn’t really gotten it yet, but those Christians protesting that they didn’t get the ability to vote hit the streets in Baghdad:

”We are protesting because we have been deprived of our right to participate in the elections,” said Shameil Benjamin, a member of a Christian party called the Democratic Assyrian Movement. ”There were irregularities and we felt that the injustice was inflicted on us.”

A spokesman for Chaldean and Assyrian parties, William Warda, said the irregularities prevented 200,000 people from voting.

The demonstrators gathered outside the Green Zone, which houses the offices of the interim Iraqi government as well as the U.S. and British embassies. The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq also is based inside the compound.

Banners held aloft read, ”Assyrians, Turkomens, Yazidis have the right to enjoy the essence of freedom,” and ”We demand our democratic rights and we reject marginalization.”

And they should protest. What this says to me is that people are quickly embracing their new political freedoms and do not want to be deprived of it. They don’t owe the government anything, but the government does owe them the right to vote. Give it to them.