Friday, February 11, 2011

Democracy

Throughout the Egyptian revolt against the Mubarak regime over the past two weeks there has been a lot of talk about the goal being "democracy".

Worth considering is Daniel Greenfield's article on "The Democracy Fallacy":

... [people] failed to understand that democracy is a tool. A means not an end. Used correctly democracy can create a republic of free men invested with rights and responsibilities. Used incorrectly democracy can lead to political bloodbaths, anarchy or a genocidal madman.
... The fundamental error ... in messianically embracing democracy as an ultimate good, is that we contrast it with tyranny as the ultimate evil. We falsely assume that tyranny is evil because it is undemocratic.
... Democracy and freedom are not the same thing.  ...

2 comments:

Beast said...

What is this I hear 250,000 voted in the 2008 election by mail? What? Since when, have I been living under a rock?

johndoe124 said...

... Democracy and freedom are not the same thing. ...

Indeed. One doesn't have to look very far to see the truth in this statement. What country has language police? What country has HRCs that jackboot our inherent rights? What country forces us to subsidize private corporations and NGOs against our will? Etc., etc., etc.

I'd much rather live in a dictatorship of freedom than in a democracy where the only choices are Mao, Stalin and Mussolini.