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Democracy vs. Human Rights
One of the key problems in our excursions in the Middle East is that too many people think that Democracy is the key to freedom, and that if we just get these people to vote, they'll all see the wonders of freedom and prosperity that we see. But, it's just not the case.
One of the things I keep repeating to people is that the success of our nation is not it's foundation on Democracy. A democracy in itself is not enough to pave the way for peace throughout the world. In fact, too many established democracies have elected totalitarian leaders who went on to plunge their countries into oppressive dark ages. I think we can point to a variety of instances throughout history and the world today, even in the last few years.
The thing that keeps our country (and others around the world) great and prosperous is not democracy, but the establishment and protection of basic human rights. It's our bill of rights, and the mechanisms the founding fathers set up to protect them, that keeps our country free and strong.
Take as an example Afghanistan. Here is a country that we very recently liberated from an oppressive regime, and who either is a democracy, or is working towards becoming a democracy (I think). Yet we see that they are already willing to violate what we consider one of our most basic freedoms, the freedom to choose your own religion, and sentence a man to death for worshipping the wrong god (or, I suppose in this case, the right god, but in the wrong manner). All the freedom to vote in the world won't change the fact that these people are completely intolerant of other religions, to the point of exterminating those who change their beliefs.
So, it's not about democracy. I think democracy is great. It's a fine way to run a country and works most of the time. But really, when we look down on communism or dictatorships or fanataic theocracies or monarchies, it's not the lack of the ability for the populace to vote that we're really frowning upon. The thing we dislike the most about them is that they repress the basic freedoms that we have established and work so hard to protect.
So, Democracy is a handy idealistic banner to fly. It allows us to roll up our entire set of beliefs about how a government should be run, by the people and for the people, into a simple war cry. But if all we concentrate on is the Democracy part, in a couple of years, we're going to end up with a democratically-elected Mullah-run intolerantly oppressive theocracy in Iraq, one that will be as much of a thorn in our side as Iran is now.
If, however, we get them to establish basic rights and freedoms, and get them to set their government up to protect those rights and freedoms over the long haul, Iraq could become a beacon of freedom and prosperity in the region.
The "Embracing Democracy" comment in the subject made me think that the whole question misses the point. It's not that this culture can't embrace democracy. They have. In fact, you could argue they've embraced far better than we Americans have, voiting in numbers that put us to shame. The real question is, are some cultures incapable of embracing tolerance and the basic rights of individuals to do things differently. And in the Middle East's case, where revenge is a national pasttime and the most popular religion is intolerant to the point of murder, it seems that the answer is "No". At least not without a hell of a lot more work.
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