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[sobo]

Dru said:

 

If "the majority likes it that way" isnt that then democratic expression???

 

One could argue that that is democratic expression, but I wouldn't call it democratic government.

 

BTW, I edited some of teh last post above, in case you missed it.

 

Oh, and

[sobo]

Dru said:

Its more like " We western powers cannot let Arabic nations have democracy, because every time they get it, they vote in Islamic rule (...or Benazir Bhutto), which is not in our interest".

 

I don't think that's what's at issue here. We are always pushing WD on nations, not withholding it. If a nation takes WD on their own willingly and runs with it, and then ends up reverting to religious rule, then that's their democratically chosen choice. That's different than the US going in there and instituting a new and unfamiliar form of government. We don't win any friends that way when our form of government eventually becomes unpopular.

 

We can pick this up tomorrow. I gotta git to my CWMR meeting.

[Dru]

sobo said:

Dru said:

Its more like " We western powers cannot let Arabic nations have democracy, because every time they get it, they vote in Islamic rule (...or Benazir Bhutto), which is not in our interest".

 

I don't think that's what's at issue here. We are always pushing WD on nations, not withholding it. If a nation takes WD on their own willingly and runs with it, and then ends up reverting to religious rule, then that's their democratically chosen choice. That's different than the US going in there and instituting a new and unfamiliar form of government. We don't win any friends that way when our form of government eventually becomes unpopular.

 

We can pick this up tomorrow. I gotta git to my CWMR meeting.

 

its all whatever to me, i just like arguing....

 

name one 3rd world country where we have successfully imposed democracy, or actually backed up our talk of wd??

[sobo]

Dru said:

....name one 3rd world country where we have successfully imposed democracy, or actually backed up our talk of wd??

 

You offered one yourself yesterday... India. Although it was the Brits that first gave them the hint. They got used to it after about 100 years, then when teh Brits left, they just kept it going with the likes of Muhatma and later Indira Ghandi.

 

I could be off base, but Egypt comes to mind as well. Anwar Saddat was doing quite well, until he got killed. They still managed to hold onto a somewhat democratic form of goevernment, altho in recent weeks/months, teh populace sounds like they want Islamic rule back. That may change now with the recent outcome in Iraq. or not.

 

And of course there's all those South American "cesspool democracies"; democracies that say so in print but not in action. You know, Columbia, Panama, Mexico, etc. We can't count those. But there are others that are getting teh hint, like Argentina, Bolivia, Uraguay, Peru, etc. I don't think the US can claim the credit there, tho, so I'm off point of your challenge.

 

My wife says I just like to argue, too. But I don't look at it so much as arguing as a mental exercise in "what if I loked at the thing your way..." It's just cranial stimulation.

[Peter_Puget]

Interesting Read on "Arab" Media

 

PP