Karl Rove was on the radio today and said that America was fighting for democracy in Iraq. His statement illustrates what I think is the flawed thinking of many Americans in dealing with the rest of the world.
Other people aren’t particularly interested in democracy. They want economic and personal security. In other words they want to earn enough to support their families and enjoy peace and freedom as they live their lives.
Consequently we should be emphasizing human rights, rather than democracy. Jefferson said it best: ALL men (people) are created equal...endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Our foreign policy would be a lot more successful if we used our economic and military power to promote those rights for individuals and work with other governments based on how they treat their people rather than what form their government takes. On many levels the Saudis are just as despicable as the Burmese junta. Both governments enrich a small coterie at the expense of the vast majority of citizenry.
We wind up as hypocrites when we denounce the generals’ house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi but do nothing, when we pay the Saudis millions for oil and ignore their discrimination against women and when we grant China most favored nation trade status while they suppress dissidents and make a mockery of free speech with internet censorship.
We can do better.
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