On Democracy

"Democracy in Iraq". What a concept, right?

Here's my thought on the subject: if we do manage to establish a democracy in Iraq, it will probably be shit.

Now, the majority of Iraqis are Shi'ites. The Shi'ites have been oppressed by Saddam for many years, while the Sunnis had it easier. And since in a democracy the majority wins, if most of the Shi'ites agree on something, it will probably pass. And I'm guessing that most of the Shi'ites will be in favor of a democracy that is somewhat less fair to the Sunnis. And in a democracy...majority rules.

Which seems to be the attitude coming from Americans: "Democracy is best because we have it!"

See, now, just because it works for us (and, by the way, if Hilary Clinton wins the Democratic primaries, it may not even work for us, anyway) doesn't mean it works for other countries.

Each country is pretty different from the others. America is very different from Iraq. Iraq has a different history, a different majority religion, different levels of wealth and poverty, different resources, different geography, and different people. You can't expect that the system which works for us will also work for this other, entirely different, country.

The Founding Fathers stayed in a single stuffy building, thinking and revising and thinking and revising, in order to make this country's system of government. They even had to start their government over from scratch at one point, because the Articles of Confederation didn't work.

And now, 230 years later, we can't think of even a single way to innovate the idea of democracy. Not a single way to tailor government to suit Iraq. Not a single new idea other than "build a giant wall".

I have an idea. Let's stop being so goddamn lazy.