Democrats Need Democracy

In recent history, two startling developments have taken place. The first development is an auspicious wave of democratization which has seemed to washed over the middle east; advancements towards democracy have taken place in Lebanon, Egypt, Palestine, and, yes, Iraq. These advancements, if continued, could put pressure on some of the most nefarious regimes in the region—Syria, Iran, and Saudi Arabia—to abandon dictatorship. This, naively and idealistically speaking of course, could represent an important strike against terrorism and an even more important step in securing United State’s longevity.

A second development, not nearly as surprising or as genuine, is that the Bush administration has conveniently forgotten Iraq’s imminent threat, and vindicated their success through a humanitarian smoke screen; they have complacently accepted progress in the Middle East as a justification for Iraq.

Democrats, at this point in time, have put themselves in a precarious situation. These pro-democracy developments should not be viewed through the cynical lenses of partisanship; they should be embraced with the ideological fervor which has defined liberalism in the past. Democrats should not hypocritically belittle George Bush’s Russian democracy complicity, while disdainfully rejecting progress within the Middle East. The Bush administration’s shameful foreign policy of preventive war, chicanery, and ineptitude is precisely the reason why democrats have to be true to their roots in embracing struggles for democracy. Now that we’re at war, it may be more fruitful to discuss the perpetuation of liberalism within Iraq through free press, political parties, humane justice system, and the imbuement of the Iraqi mentality with concepts of freedom—ideals much more fundamental to democracy than a single election which has yet to enact change. Democrats are the party of human rights, freedom, and democracy; let’s try to embrace those ideals in a circumstance which we didn’t support.

Today marks the second anniversary of the United States' war in Iraq. Today, almost one hundred thousand people are marching throughout Europe against George Bush, the United States, and the war in Iraq. World mentality, the second global superpower, is a force that should not be underestimated. The United States has handicapped its democracy-building efforts by coming into the war in Iraq with a history of selfish support of dictatorship, arrogant disregarding for international mentality, and cruel sponsorship of its own form of torture (Guantánamo anyone?). It seems almost implausible that the United States’ democracy-creation efforts could ever be successful without unified domestic support.

By no means is Iraq a success story; instead, it is the very opposite. We are so immersed in the Iraq debacle, including the death of soldiers, Iraqis, and the disintegration of the United States economy, that retreat now would spell the death of future freedom implications. Will democracy be ushered in by the Bush Administration? No. However, hoping for the failure of George Bush, and the failure of the United States, is the worst political course of action for defining the human rights ideals of the Democratic Party in the upcoming years.