Spreading Democracy in the Middle East
Our President has unjustly been forced to defend his foreign policy of “spreading
democracy” to the poor peoples of the Middle East and other areas of the world. History
has long shown us that a democratic government, “the rule of men”, is vastly preferable
to a republican form of government, “the rule of law”.
The virtue of democracy was recognized long ago as Rome was transitioning from an
isolationist republic to a democratic empire destined to provide “Pax Romana” to the
world. The great Seneca commended democracy to us, stating “Democracy is more cruel than
wars or tyrants”. Likewise, (as summarized by Dr Will Durant) Cicero compared democracy
to other forms of government, stating “monarchy becomes despotism; aristocracy becomes
oligarchy; and democracy becomes mob-rule, chaos, and dictatorship”.
Anybody who would oppose sending our troops overseas to invade other countries to provide
democracy should be considered a traitor. After all, the author of our Declaration of
Independence, Thomas Jefferson, endorsed democracy when he stated: “Democracy is nothing
more than mob rule, where 51% may take away the rights of the other 49%”. Likewise, his
coworker, Ben Franklin, both commended democracy (and endorsed gun control) when he
wrote: “Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is
a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.”
Let’s not forget Samuel Adams: “Remember, Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes,
exhausts and murders itself! There never was a democracy that 'did not commit suicide.'"
Contributors to our Constitution also endorsed democracy. Surely, they would have
endorsed using our military to spread it to others (the requirement for a Congressional
Declaration of War is so quaint and outmoded)!
Elbridge Gerry: "The evils we experience flow from the excess of democracy. The people
do not want (that is, do not lack) virtue; but are the dupes of pretended patriots."
Alexander Hamilton : “It had been observed that a pure democracy, if it were practicable,
would be the most perfect government. Experience has proved that no position is more
false than this. The ancient democracies in which the people themselves deliberated never
possessed one good feature of government. Their very character was tyranny; their figure
deformity.”
and
"We are a Republican Government. Real liberty is never found in despotism or in the
extremes of Democracy."
James Madison: “..democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention;
have ever been found incompatible with personal security, or the rights of property; and
have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.”
(There's no turbulence and contention in Iraq, is there! If only the minorities would
accept the tyranny, oops, wise rule, of the majority!)
And then there’s John Marshall, who was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1801 to
1835, who said: "Between a balanced republic and a democracy, the difference is like that
between order and chaos."
The famed Englishman, Benjamin Disraeli, made a speech to the British House of Commons
in which he said: "If you establish a democracy, you must in due time reap the fruits of
a democracy. You will in due season have great impatience of public burdens, combined in
due season with great increase of public expenditure. You will in due season have wars
entered into from passion and not from reason; and you will in due season submit to peace
ignominiously sought and ignominiously obtained, which will diminish your authority and
perhaps endanger your independence. You will in due season find your property is less
valuable, and your freedom less complete."
And there are many others who would have endorsed spreading a carpet of bombs across the
Middle East in order to provide them with Democracy:
James Russell Lowell: “Democracy gives every man the right to be his own oppressor.”
W.H. Seward: "Democracies are prone to war, and war consumes them."
Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Democracy becomes a government of bullies tempered by editors."
Oscar Wilde: "Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people, by the people, for
the people."
H.L. Mencken: "The most popular man under a democracy is not the most democratic man, but
the most despotic man. The common folk delight in the exactions of such a man. They like
him to boss them. Their natural gait is the goosestep."
Ludwig Lewisohn observed: "Democracy, which began by liberating men politically, has
developed a dangerous tendency to enslave him through the tyranny of majorities and the
deadly power of their opinion."
In 1931 the Duke of Northumberland, in his booklet, The History of World Revolution,
stated: "The adoption of Democracy as a form of Government by all European nations is
fatal to good Government, to liberty, to law and order, to respect for authority, and to
religion, and must eventually produce a state of chaos from which a new world tyranny
will arise."
Of course, there are those cynics who claim that if our leaders really had the best
interests of, for example, the Iraqi’s at heart, they would have guided them to a
national constitution similar to that ignored, no, interpreted loosely, by our own
government. For example, some claim that a First Amendment type “The Iraqi Congress shall
pass no law respecting the establishment of religion” might have been wise. Instead, they
(our "advisors") provided the clause that “all laws must conform to Sharia [Muslim Holy
Law]”. There can be no doubt that the effect of this statement in the Iraqi Constitution,
resulting in the systematic persecution, murder, expulsion, and genocide of Iraqi
Christians and other religious minorities, was entirely unforeseen! After all, the
majority, (in this case, Shiite Muslims) is always right!
Can it be that we need to revisit our History? Is it possible that we have been sold a
false definition of patriotism? Is it possible that Washington, Adams, Jefferson,
Madison, and others would have told us to bring our troops home; rather than imposing
chaos, tyranny, and death on others?
democracy” to the poor peoples of the Middle East and other areas of the world. History
has long shown us that a democratic government, “the rule of men”, is vastly preferable
to a republican form of government, “the rule of law”.
The virtue of democracy was recognized long ago as Rome was transitioning from an
isolationist republic to a democratic empire destined to provide “Pax Romana” to the
world. The great Seneca commended democracy to us, stating “Democracy is more cruel than
wars or tyrants”. Likewise, (as summarized by Dr Will Durant) Cicero compared democracy
to other forms of government, stating “monarchy becomes despotism; aristocracy becomes
oligarchy; and democracy becomes mob-rule, chaos, and dictatorship”.
Anybody who would oppose sending our troops overseas to invade other countries to provide
democracy should be considered a traitor. After all, the author of our Declaration of
Independence, Thomas Jefferson, endorsed democracy when he stated: “Democracy is nothing
more than mob rule, where 51% may take away the rights of the other 49%”. Likewise, his
coworker, Ben Franklin, both commended democracy (and endorsed gun control) when he
wrote: “Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is
a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.”
Let’s not forget Samuel Adams: “Remember, Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes,
exhausts and murders itself! There never was a democracy that 'did not commit suicide.'"
Contributors to our Constitution also endorsed democracy. Surely, they would have
endorsed using our military to spread it to others (the requirement for a Congressional
Declaration of War is so quaint and outmoded)!
Elbridge Gerry: "The evils we experience flow from the excess of democracy. The people
do not want (that is, do not lack) virtue; but are the dupes of pretended patriots."
Alexander Hamilton : “It had been observed that a pure democracy, if it were practicable,
would be the most perfect government. Experience has proved that no position is more
false than this. The ancient democracies in which the people themselves deliberated never
possessed one good feature of government. Their very character was tyranny; their figure
deformity.”
and
"We are a Republican Government. Real liberty is never found in despotism or in the
extremes of Democracy."
James Madison: “..democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention;
have ever been found incompatible with personal security, or the rights of property; and
have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.”
(There's no turbulence and contention in Iraq, is there! If only the minorities would
accept the tyranny, oops, wise rule, of the majority!)
And then there’s John Marshall, who was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1801 to
1835, who said: "Between a balanced republic and a democracy, the difference is like that
between order and chaos."
The famed Englishman, Benjamin Disraeli, made a speech to the British House of Commons
in which he said: "If you establish a democracy, you must in due time reap the fruits of
a democracy. You will in due season have great impatience of public burdens, combined in
due season with great increase of public expenditure. You will in due season have wars
entered into from passion and not from reason; and you will in due season submit to peace
ignominiously sought and ignominiously obtained, which will diminish your authority and
perhaps endanger your independence. You will in due season find your property is less
valuable, and your freedom less complete."
And there are many others who would have endorsed spreading a carpet of bombs across the
Middle East in order to provide them with Democracy:
James Russell Lowell: “Democracy gives every man the right to be his own oppressor.”
W.H. Seward: "Democracies are prone to war, and war consumes them."
Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Democracy becomes a government of bullies tempered by editors."
Oscar Wilde: "Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people, by the people, for
the people."
H.L. Mencken: "The most popular man under a democracy is not the most democratic man, but
the most despotic man. The common folk delight in the exactions of such a man. They like
him to boss them. Their natural gait is the goosestep."
Ludwig Lewisohn observed: "Democracy, which began by liberating men politically, has
developed a dangerous tendency to enslave him through the tyranny of majorities and the
deadly power of their opinion."
In 1931 the Duke of Northumberland, in his booklet, The History of World Revolution,
stated: "The adoption of Democracy as a form of Government by all European nations is
fatal to good Government, to liberty, to law and order, to respect for authority, and to
religion, and must eventually produce a state of chaos from which a new world tyranny
will arise."
Of course, there are those cynics who claim that if our leaders really had the best
interests of, for example, the Iraqi’s at heart, they would have guided them to a
national constitution similar to that ignored, no, interpreted loosely, by our own
government. For example, some claim that a First Amendment type “The Iraqi Congress shall
pass no law respecting the establishment of religion” might have been wise. Instead, they
(our "advisors") provided the clause that “all laws must conform to Sharia [Muslim Holy
Law]”. There can be no doubt that the effect of this statement in the Iraqi Constitution,
resulting in the systematic persecution, murder, expulsion, and genocide of Iraqi
Christians and other religious minorities, was entirely unforeseen! After all, the
majority, (in this case, Shiite Muslims) is always right!
Can it be that we need to revisit our History? Is it possible that we have been sold a
false definition of patriotism? Is it possible that Washington, Adams, Jefferson,
Madison, and others would have told us to bring our troops home; rather than imposing
chaos, tyranny, and death on others?
Labels: democracy, foreign policy, imperialism, republic, rule of law
posted by A Radical Whig in Chattanooga at 5:43 AM
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