DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ? HOW ABOUT IN

AMERICA?

Mr. B. keeps insisting that there's an incipient
democracy trying to grow in Iraq, and that if he
can keep watering that plant with enough Iraqi
and American blood, it will flower into something
lasting and beautiful that will be worth the cost.
It's a fantasy, of course. There's nothing in Arab
history or culture to support this dream. They
don't even have a word for "democracy."

The case isn't hopeless in the long term, however.
Islam is both egalitarian and authoritarian. So far,
the authoritarian part has always ruled. That's
because Muhammed founded a theocracy based
on holy Scripture and religious law. Modern Muslims
who want to imitate the Prophet's pattern of
governance (Islamists) are numerous and their
number is growing. They include Mr. al-Maliki and
most of his fellow Shia in Iraq. That's the majority
of Iraqis. The U. S. has no logical, legal, or moral
basis for blocking their popular will.

Whatever it is we are selling there, they aren't buying.
That should be clear by now. It's not going to happen!
You can't have democracy without a social contract.
Our founding fathers studied the political history of
Greece, Rome, and England, and then crafted a social
contract spelled out in the Constitution. To be widely
accepted and followed by the people, such a contract
must be seen as fair (equitable) and workable. In it,
people must agree to give up violence as a means of
changing the law or the government. That, in fact, is
the heart and core of a social contract.

We don't have anything like that consensus in Iraq.
And an army can't bring it about by force. That's what
several of our generals have meant by "there's no military
solution possible." What part of that doesn't Mr. B.
understand?

The only Arab country that has ever come close to a
democracy is Lebanon. It once had a large Christian
population that lived harmoniously with Sunnis, Shia,
Druze and Jews. They have a parliamentry govt. But
the social contract there has repeatedly broken down
over sectarian quarrels sometimes resulting in civil
war. They are now the uneasy (and unwilling) home
of Hezbollah, the Iran (and Syria) backed Shia group
fighting Israel.

I said above that Islam is eqalitarian. That fact, plus
its strong emphasis on social justice, constitutes the
potential for democracy to develop down the road,
if Muslims are ever willing to reject authoritarianism.
That movement is abroad in many Muslim countries,
just as we are moving in the opposite direction! We
have an out-of-control president in total control of our
armed forces waging a hopelessly stalled war that is
totally opposed by a large majority of his people!
That's not democracy either! But we can't find
politicians with enough balls to stop it!

jgoodwin004@centurytel.net