Forcing democracy on Iraq has its pitfalls (big gag alert)

The Bush administration seems determined to get into the business of exporting democracy to the Middle East. And a lot of Americans are wondering what took so long. After all, America is the political, military, economic and, yes, cultural envy of the world, and the one thing we are certain has produced that enviable status is the way we govern ourselves: American democracy.

Viewed that way, it seems downright uncharitable not to offer the world a draught of the elixir that has made us what we are.

Thus it was that, a month ago, in one of the more stirring speeches of his presidency, George W. Bush was urging a "crusade for freedom," beginning, conveniently, in Iraq but spreading with such force as to engulf the whole region, including our friends the royally ruled Saudis.

It isn't that I don't favor democracy. I do, and I'd love to see more of it in the world. But because of America's peculiar history (excluding that unpleasant little episode called slavery), we may be thinking of democracy as a lot easier, more natural and more inevitable than it is.

We behave sometimes as though if we can only get democracy on the supermarket shelf alongside other forms of government, the world will choose it the way it would choose fresh-squeezed orange juice over canned.

So what's wrong with getting democracy on the shelf? Nothing at all. I'd love it to be available, I'd love to see our foreign policy promote it, I'd love us to tilt toward democracy every chance we get.

But when the talk is in the context of Iraq (with overtones of transforming the Middle East), it seems to suggest not just support of local democratic stirrings but a policy of injecting democracy every chance we get. And even that will strike some people as no more inappropriate than the idea of Christian proselytizing has struck others. I mean, those people need Jesus, and it's our God-ordained role to spread that word.

(Excerpted because Raspberry belongs to the Washington Post Writers Group or whatever it is called.)

Oh my, this editorial really takes the cake. And for the punchline that made my stomach turn:

"Democracies can be worse than autocracies. To be poor in democratic Mexico or Brazil is certainly worse than to be unrepresented in Cuba or Saudi Arabia. We should know better than to put much stock in the form of government. That it is necessary even to say this shows how tightly we are in the grip of a cliched ideology."

When you combine overwhelming military might with the utter certainty that your way is the one true way, the temptation can be very strong to impose truth ? political or religious ? at gunpoint.

We could do with a bit less cocksure certainty on both counts.

Geeze -- we've been converting people to Christianity at gunpoint? Would love to see some proof for that lame argument.

As for forcing democracy on Iraq -- at gunpoint: They have no concept of democracy, of the tolerance for different views and beliefs that is required. Our first goal is for our troops to protect themselves, then protect the Iraqi citizens from killing each other until they learn to tolerate their neighbors differing beliefs.

Enforcing democracy in a country that was searching for ways to export terrorism to our shores seemed better than nuking them all out of existence (which could still be an option in the future).

I usually agree with Raspberry, but he seems to be endorsing Neumann's 'better off in Cuba than Mexico' idiocy. Besides, we don't have the luxury of taking our time in getting Iraq back in self-governance or the political patience to fund it in perpetuity. Raspberry may not realize it, but he's touting quagmire-building.

People, most often liberals, like to assume that democracy can grow anywhere. Just take it out of the box, plant two inches deep, water, and watch it grow. Iraq doesn't look like a very fertile soil for democracy. Iran, on the other hand, seems to be slowly moving in that direction.

Meanwhile we fund and Bush touts the National Endowment for Democracy. This is a travesty of an organization that spends taxpayer money to ensure that, much like the presence of parasites when hatchlings emerge from their pest-free shell, labor unions will be present to weigh down any new democracy that is born.

1. Your blog is funny as hell. Thank you!

2. I'm not opposed to supporting democracy. I am opposed to invading countries to plant democracy. By the by, many will recall that democracy was not our reason for invading Iraq. Unless we accept an Islamic republic---something this administration has said it will not allow---we will not start democracy in Iraq. If we accept an Islamic republic, we may still only get a revolution, civil war and an authoritarian regime.

3. Unions: At one time, I was the president of a local. I spent the bulk of my time talking morons out of pushing a strike. Anyway, I became friends with the owner of the company. I asked him why he didn’t kill off the union. (I live in NM and killing the union wouldn’t have been that hard.) He said that management preferred a union. When the plant was first organized, management opposed it. After the union came in, management found that it was convenient; having a union put in rules that all knew and, for the most part, followed. I doubt if most managers would feel this way, but it was in NM, which is a weak union state. Oh, as an aside, the union was not as corrupt as they used to be. I was sooooooo disappointed!

1. Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
2. I agree about introducing democracy, just not insisting the organized labor be a part of the program, as NED does.
3. Management holding labor to its breast. I guess we can all get along after all. LOL

I think the union situation was atypical. However, as a libertarian, I don't have a problem with unions. I do have a huge problem with the government forcing companies or workers to play the union game. I suspect that is where you and I would agree.

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