Dr. Martin Hash Podcast

Spreading democracy around the world one coup at a time is an American trademark. Though the 1950s & 60s were the halcyon days: Reagan certainly made hay in Central America, both Bushes weren't too bad at it in the Middle East, and even Obama gets credit for Libya & Syria. There seems to be no place too ridiculously awful for America not to stick our fingers in, fueled by a lethal mixture of National Interest & sanctimony. The admirable goal of helping people become free is exploited for geopolitical maneuvering, too often becoming a blind pursuit of democracy without considering the circumstances nor consequences.

Democracy is the only from of communal decision-making that accommodates liberty, and since most people conflate liberty with freedom, the quest for freedom has become a mandate for democracy, but that is an ill-advised conclusion as much as it's an erroneous syllogism: some societies just are not the democracy types: they have been indoctrinated with theocracy, or come from a Marxist past with no experience with being accountable for their own actions, and many are not even accustomed to making decisions for themselves. To them, when democracy is thrust from above by outside forces, it results in chaos & exploitation by the Elite, then their negative experience undermines true democracy emerging in their nation. Democracy has to come naturally or not at all.