The Pendragon's Hall

Alexis de Tocqueville

The Pendragon grows weary of politics as usual. Nobody outside of the President, and a few outsiders like Joe Liebermann, seems to be interested in putting the welfare of the nation above his or her own political gain. Republicans who could easily have toppled the Witch from the West who sits in the junior chair of New York state's senate delegation chose the easy road because they weren't entirely sure they could win. And I am sick to death of hearing about how the Iraq War was a mistake and Bush is a criminal for leading us into it. And yet, like so often, when the naysaying refrain pounds into your head long enough--Nay, nay, nay, nothing can be done, nothing will be done, nothing should be done--you begin to wonder. 180 some years ago a young Frenchman wondered if Anglo America was somehow uniquely suited for democracy and feared the effects of introducing too great a measure of equality into societies that were unused to liberty. If Tocqueville were alive today, what would he think of Iraq? As an optimistic liberal, however, he had to believe that democracy's success in America could be replicated elsewhere but only if it were introduced slowly, giving people time to acclimate. Fareed Zakaria has given voice to this idea today: a culture of human rights and responsibilities must precede democracy and equality. Yet Tocqueville does not say who should introduce liberty to the enslaved people? Did an otherwise intelligent man really think some kind of enlightened despot would begin to introduce the system that would eventually run him out of power? Or would Tocqueville have agreed with Bush--that the United States should lead the way in promoting democracy? The Pendragon begins to doubt himself. Bush did the right thing to remove a megalomaniac bent on destroying the US and her allies, and as a national security measure, I remain in favor the Iraq War. Where Bush may have gone wrong is in assuming that democracy is a universal government that can be translated into cultures unused to freedom. Does mankind really have a univeral hunger for liberty as Michael Novak argued? The Pendragon sincerely hopes so, but he is beginning to wonder: are other cultures really capable of the same kind of democratic success that the United States has had? We can only wait and see.