Democracy has become a dirty word in much of the world
“Monotheism has no correlation with democracy or the origins of democratic principles. Weren’t some of the world’s first democratic societies created in ancient Greece? Doesn’t that mean pagans (polytheists) were among the first to invent democratic institutions? Modern-day India is predominately Hindu and they have a functioning democracy. There are countries where ‘God is Government’ and they’re among the least democratic and free societies in the world. When you hear religious conservatives criticizing secularism, pluralism or multiculturalism — ask them what they would replace a secular/civil form of government with… (THEOCRACY).” — Curt
JOEL BRINKLEY: Freedom, President Bush likes to say, “is a gift of the almighty.” But much of the world now believes America’s true view is that democracy should be imposed with the muzzle of a gun.
For the first time in a generation, the number of nations turning from autocracy to democracy is on the decline, and non-partisan officials who work in this field blame Bush.
Joel Brinkley is a former Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent for The New York Times and now a professor of journalism at Stanford University
