LONG WAY
HOME: RECLAIMING DEMOCRACY
SUPPORT GLOBAL DEMOCRACY
By Jack Random
Mark it post and save: On November 28th President Donald
Trump did the right thing. He signed two
bills establishing American solidarity with Hong Kong’s pro-democracy
movement. Curiously, he stated he was
doing so out of respect for President Xi of mainland China when in fact it was
directly contrary to Chinese interests.
It may prove a sticking point in the ongoing trade negotiations between
the two economic giants.
The truth is the legislation had
veto-proof support in congress. The
president nevertheless should be applauded for standing up for democracy. Only weeks before he signaled his support for
a military coup in Bolivia – likely instigated and organized by the Central
Intelligence Agency. We have no way of
knowing whether the agency acted on Trump’s direct orders or in continuance of
long-standing policy but when he applauded the action he also forecast possible
future operations in Venezuela and Nicaragua.
In the contest between democratic
and non-democratic forces, the president has not often sided with
democracy. He is proud to stand with the
increasingly ruthless authoritarian President Rodrigo Duterte of the
Philippines who disregards the rule of law, summarily executes accused drug
dealers and declares war on the media.
He stands with President Recep Erdogan of Turkey who conducted one of
the greatest purges in modern history and regularly imprisons political
opponents on trumped up charges. He
stands with President Vladimir Putin of Russia, a strict authoritarian who
suppresses opposition voices and controls all sources of political and
financial power.
When the United States of America
praises dictators and gives generous support to authoritarian despots in every
corner of the world, the incentive to build and strengthen democracy is
lacking. It is far easier to establish
military rule or governance by the corporate elite and hold on to power with
the strong arm of oppression.
In recent years we have had
opportunities to make great progress in the cause of global democracy but we
failed to seize the day. Because of our
ill-advised alliances in the Middle East, we failed to provide adequate support
of the Arab Spring. We failed to support
the rise of democratic movements in Latin America because they chose to couple
democracy with a socialistic economy.
Let’s be clear, America has long
earned a reputation of hypocrisy when it comes to supporting democracy in
foreign affairs. Ho Chi Minh pleaded
with the United States to support Vietnam against the French in the spirit of
freedom and equal rights. The United
States under Harry Truman was not interested.
Imagine if we had accepted his offer of alliance and guided Vietnam on a
path to democracy. Millions of lives
would have been spared. If we had stood
firm in our support of democracy, countless military and covert operations
would not have been necessary.
America’s history is stained with
the support of despots, military juntas and dictatorships around the
world. We have given lip service to the
cause of democracy when in fact we have supported our own economic and
strategic interests. We have been cursed
with shortsightedness. Had we built a
coalition of republics we would be far better off today. If we are to be the beacon of liberty that
our mythology describes then we must alter our course.
Unfortunately, we seem to be
embarked on the same old course without the embellishment of good
intentions. According to the Global Democracy
Index, a rating of democratic fulfillment by the Economist Intelligence Unit of
the United Kingdom, the state of our democracy is in decline. Far from the shining beacon on the hill, we
are no longer considered a full democracy.
Rather, given the deterioration of our fourth estate, corporate dominance
of our political process, declining participation in our elections and a general
acceptance of anti-democratic practices – such as mass disenfranchisement – we
are now considered a flawed democracy.
We can question the methodology if
we wish but the stone cold fact is that this nation, the very first sovereign
republic on earth, should be rated by anyone as low as twenty-fifth on any list
of democratic achievement should give pause to every citizen. While we pay tribute to our founders and
applaud Broadway shows that glorify them, we have betrayed the foundations of
democratic government.
Democracy does not exist in a
vacuum. It exists in a world where
despotism, fascism, dictatorship, oligarchy and theocracy have taken control of
governments and fight for ever more power and wealth. For democracy to survive, democratic nations
must join together and support each other to achieve economic prosperity and
security for all our peoples. Our trade
policy should reflect our democratic values and our foreign policy should
always encourage and defend the principles of democracy.
I am not advocating war for
democracy. I am not advocating covert
operations to overturn every dictator and despot in the world. I am not advocating covert operations or
military interventions at all. As Bishop
Desmond Tutu of South Africa once said:
“We wanted help; we did not want bombs!”
The boycott and divestiture of the government of apartheid South Africa
was of immeasurable assistance in paving the road to independence. That example should serve as a model for our
foreign policy.
We should establish an independent
body – as unbiased as humanly possible – to rate governments on the scale of
democracy. Once we have improved our own
standing to a fully functional representative democracy, we should invite all
full democracies to form an alliance of democracies for preferred trade
relations. Each member nation would
agree to impose no tariffs or other restrictions on trade with fellow
nations.
Member nations that are thriving
economically should provide assistance to those nations that are striving to
improve their democratic status. Nations
that discard democratic values or interfere in the democratic development of
other nations should face targeted economic sanctions and trade barriers.
Of course there will be instances
where economic consequences impose hardships on innocent people. Humanitarian considerations must always be a
part of any democratic decision making.
But we must apply pressure on governments that oppress their
people. In the current state of affairs,
despite strategic interests, the government of Turkey no longer meets the
minimal requirements of a developing democratic nation. Turkey should be expelled from the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization for its brutal oppression and democratic
backslide. Its leaders should be
subjected to the stiffest penalties. The
same holds true for China and Russia.
To the detriment of the world, we
have chosen capitalism and Free Trade as the guiding principle of international
relations. We have created the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to support nations that adhere
to and punish those that violate the mandates of Free Trade. In doing so we have rendered human rights and
democratic values secondary or even tertiary considerations. This is a grave error that should be
corrected.
Democracy and human rights must be
established in their rightful place as the foundations of international
relations – at least from an American and western European perspective. The omission of democratic values in trade
agreements has virtually assured the decline of global democracy. Reversing the polarity of Free Trade and
human rights – one of which is the right of individuals to choose their government
officials – will assure the rise of democracy and lead to the rise of Fair
Trade. The principles of democracy and
representation of labor go hand in hand.
One encourages the other. The IMF
and the World Bank are powerful structures that can be reformed to reflect these
new values.
Attempting to establish such a
framework for global affairs would meet with stiff resistance for it would
threaten the long-established dominance of corporate wealth. Any candidate for high office who proposes
such reform would be attacked with the full force of corporate propaganda. Any political party that adopted a Democracy
First approach to international trade would find itself accused of every
conceivable offense: corruption, fraud, extremism, terrorism, mob rule, radical
economics, communism, socialism and anarchism.
None of it would be true, of
course, but that hardly matters. When
you threaten the core sources of international power, you will be tarnished by
all means and methods. Democracy is in
fact the most radical and dangerous concept on the planet. True democracy is a threat to the very
foundations of global wealth.
Of course, this is only a dream and
will remain so as long as our own political system is dominated by two parties
that both answer to the same overlords of corporate affluence. Advancing global democracy is not possible as
long as our government neglects its own democratic values. This is not what the better of our founders
intended.
Granted, our democracy was flawed
from its inception. But the more
enlightened of our founders knew it was a work in progress. The better of them knew that women would one
day be granted the right to vote. They
knew that slavery was an economically motivated abomination that would tear the
nation apart. They knew that the wealthy
and privileged would attempt to control the masses by controlling the flow of
information. They knew that foreign
nations would try to influence our elections and sway our electorate. They knew that the press would be biased and
politicians would be corrupt.
They knew that the system they
prescribed was seriously flawed but they trusted that those who followed them
would be dedicated to the principles of democracy. They trusted us to build upon their
work. They trusted us to correct their
errors and make changes that would move the nation forward toward a more
perfect democracy. They had a dream and
they placed that dream in our hands.
It is up to us to take that dream
and move forward. Once we have repaired
the damage to our own republic and fortified its defenses, we can begin to lead
the world in progress toward the establishment of worldwide democratic
principles.
As the revolutionary founder Thomas
Paine once wrote: “We have it in our
power to begin the world over again.”
Let us not neglect that solemn responsibility.
“United States Doesn’t Even Make
Top Twenty on Global Democracy Index.”
By Andrea Germanos. Common
Dreams, January 11, 2019.
Common Sense. By Thomas Paine. Circa 1776.
