Sunday, June 18, 2006 - Democracy

I've been trying to figure out how to word this and I think I got it. Here's the reason why we will not succeed in Iraq. We, the US, are a bunch of arrogant assholes who believe that it's either our way or the highway.

We are in Iraq, attempting to install a democratic government and most of us can't believe that there are people who are fighting against the democratic values that we are trying to install. That's just it, though. We are approaching this like we are in a lab and there is a formula to follow. We expect that once A is done, B will happen and will lead to C and so on. That just won't happen.

We have to take into account the Iraqi people and their beliefs. They are a deeply religious and very proud people (Baghdad is the birthplace of Algebra and was once the leading center for the sciences throughout the world). They have a history that pre-dates any European civilization and have seen most of the civilized people (Greeks, Romans, etc.) come and go. They are not Americans by no means but the form of democracy that we are forcing down their throats is purely American. Democracy is not something that is rigid, inflexible and does not take into account the social makeup of the people. Democracy is something that is supposed to sprout from the social makeup of the people. They use their social values and common sense to create a form of government that best works for them, not accept a form of democracy that worked for a totally different group of people with different values.

Democracy is like a poem. What the poem says will remain the same but it can and will be interpreted different ways, depending on the experiences and background of the reader.

So, think about it for a second. I know my blog might not be the best written argument that I could have put forth but I only write first drafts and I write from my heart. We need to realize that we are making a huge mistake and stop meddling in the Iraqi people's affairs. It is time that we let them learn for themselves just what democracy is and how to apply it to their lives.