Money Quote: Andrew Sullivan on Democracy in Burma
September 28, 2007
God I love Andrew Sullivan and his readers:
What I find amazing, is the stark contrast between real democracy in action (Burma) and the staged theater in Iraq. For those of us who witnessed Tiananmen and the fall of the Wall…not to mention Ukraine, etc., the lesson is that true democracy is an organic event that arises from the people. It can not be bestowed, bequeathed or imposed.
Democracy also requires a strong middle class. Most of Iraq’s middle-class has left thanks to us. Whoops.
Sullivan reveals a truth so many have been missing. When I was younger I followed the Apartheid situation in South Africa closely. While economic sanctions had some effect, it really came down to the movement from within changing the policies of the government, and eventually leading to where we are now. Iraq was never going to move to a forced Democracy imposed from the outside, let alone by a Western nation. Democracy grows from within. It did so in this country, it did so in South Africa and other counties.
Iraq is a disaster zone that cannot be fixed the way we’re going about trying to fix it. As long as we don’t recognize that we’re condemned to being there 20 or 30 more years with no prospect for any resolution that any different from the Palestinian problem.