The Great Revolt Continues
That’s the headline on this week’s Creators Syndicate column.
The news hook is Iraq’s December 15th election. The big news is democratic reformation. Demand for democracy has always been there. 9/11 shook America. Security on a planet with WMD is a shared burden. Tribal and religious wars, once confined to deserts or distant corners “over there” ,can now lead tothe nuclear destruction of New York and London. Add Paris, and Tokyo, and Moscow, and Beijing, etc. Democracy doesn’t prevent conflict, but it does dampen the likelihood of war.
I think it is foolish to lump the Palestinians in the same category as Iraqis. The Sunnis in Iraq appear to have begun the process of accepting their minority status in Iraq after years of rule - which is a very good thing and all Iraqis are embracing democracy. The Palestians have not even begun to even consider a peaceful co-existence with the nation of Israel and I feel that the Palestinians are just giving “lip service” to democracy if only to gain a political foothold in their campaign against Israel and to receive foreign aid from the United States of which should now be cut off after despiciable approval by the Palestinian government to compenstate families of suicide bombers in Israel. Clearly the Palestinians have not renounced terrorism.
Comment by Matthew Fountain — 12/14/2005 @ 11:39 am
The strength of democracy is the codification of humility — the constant awareness that there may be a better way to do things. Since even the smallest voice deserves opportunity to convince others, democracy implies unfettered freedom to communicate and a permanent commitment to peaceful change. No other form of government commits to these essentials of civilization.
Comment by sbw — 12/14/2005 @ 2:10 pm