Democracy, Liberty

[Robert Sheridan]

Exactly; Hitler got a lot of votes in 1932.

In light of this, it seems at least somewhat ironic that the U.S. went to (or at least excused) war in Iraq and Afghanistan with the stated goal, among others, of establishing 'democracy' rather than the broader, deeper, and perhaps more defensible goals of 'justice' or 'liberty.'  

Liberty for tribal members, e.g. Libya, might be to have their tribe recognized as equal to others and for tribal justice.  

Democracy as we prefer it is a Western product; justice as the Middle East sees it may certainly require popular control but not necessarily in the tradition that we trace to ancient Greece and Rome via Europe and Britain, through us.  

In fact that may be just what they don't want.

rs


On Mar 27, 2011, at 6:35 AM, Mortimer Sellers wrote:

> So liberty is actually morally prior to democracy in the American and other constitutional democracies.  Liberty requires democracy, but democracy does not require liberty -- illiberal democracies are possible, very dangerous, and a real risk in the Middle East.