WORSHIPING AT THE ALTAR OF THE GREAT GOD “DEMOCRACY”

3/10/11

Reports that clashes between Coptic Christians and Muslims have killed 13 people in Egypt in recent days have confirmed, as if there were any doubt, the prescience, seminality, and perspicacity of my, inter alia, 2/11/11 post on Egypt NEED A LITTLE RAIN ON YOUR PARADE? I’M YOUR MAN!

The Wall Street Journal’s coverage of the Christian/Muslim fighting, along with other travails befalling the democratic paradise the U.S. mainstream media told us to expect in the wake of the swift deposition of Hosni Mubarak, contained two salient quotes. The first was from Mr. Naguib Sawiris, chairman of Orascom Telecom, one of the largest publicly held companies in the Middle East:

“Another 60 days and the economy will go bust.”

But who needs an economy when the hearts of “the people” are in the right place and Uncle Sam will, in the end, pick up the bills anyway, right?

The other especially piquant quote came from Mr. Rifaat Atif, a Christian pharmacist:

“What have we gotten from the revolution? We don’t trust the army any more. The money has stopped. There’s no security.”

Whether Mr. Atif was referring to Egyptian Christians or Egyptians in general when he used the pronoun “we” is not certain, but it probably doesn’t matter; the sentiment he so articulately expressed applies to both.

Christians and Jews fare especially poorly when Middle Eastern strongmen are rapidly deposed either by angry mobs or by foreign intervention inspired by a diaphanous yet ardent desire to install democracy. This has been especially true in, of late, Egypt and Iraq.

Why do Jews and Christians do so poorly in the wake of the hasty overthrows that the Bush/Obama administration, the U.S. (and, for the most part, the world) media, and at least a hefty plurality of the western public think are such terrific ideas? Because democracy is not such a great idea. Democracy, either quickly in the case of the Third World or slowly in the case of the West, becomes mob rule, a mere means of the majority to rob and/or exploit the minority. In the Middle East, the majority is not favorably disposed toward Christians and Jews and thus, when democracy arises, or is imposed, the majority sees it as an opportunity to go after those the majority doesn’t like. Our Founding Fathers knew that democracy, at least in its pure form, was glorified mob rule, which is why they established on these shores not a democracy but a democratic republic, with proper safeguards (perhaps most importantly, the Bill of Rights) against the onset of mob rule, safeguards which have been fraying over the last hundred years or so, but that is another issue.

While democracy is not such a great system, self-rule, generally in the form of a democratic republic, can be a very good idea, the best form of government, but only if the proper groundwork is in place, including respect for minority rights, property rights, the sanctity of contracts, etc.. Self governance is more than voting or, in the latest bastardizations of which the Bush/Obama Administration and the media are so fond, assembling a mob in the street and tossing out the people in charge with nary a clue as to what their replacement will be. Effective and enduring self governance requires a people that understands the proper limits of government, respects the rights of their neighbors, and embraces the responsibilities that come with self government. But democracy requires only a vote or the ability of a mob to get the authorities to accede to its demands. And yet we are supposed to genuflect at the mere mention of the word “democracy,” as if the repeated and strident utterance of it gives legitimacy to whatever those demanding "democracy" would like.