Working toward Democracy

Would democracy really benefit all nations? If so, why are we seeing so much turmoil in Iraq, Kenya, and other nations that are trying to be democratic? What should have been done differently in these countries, and what can still be done?

In a new piece by the Hoover Institution, “Democracy’s Ongoing Challenges,” all of these questions are addressed. The article examines both successful and struggling democracies around the world, and shines a critical light on why democracy isn’t working in places where it ideally could.

“Abbas Milani, research fellow and codirector of the Hoover Institution’s Iran Democracy Project, writes that ‘democracy is a gift only a nation can give itself.’”...

"Although regime change can create an opportunity in which democratic leadership can step in, simply replacing an authoritarian government does not guarantee that democracy will instantly flourish. In Iraq, removing Saddam Hussein from power and holding free elections has not resulted—yet—in a stable democracy. [Hoover senior fellow Larry] Diamond states that democracy in Iraq is unattainable until ‘the rival Sunni, Shia’a, and Kurdish factions can find a way to compromise and write a fair constitution.’”...

“In the case of Kenya, the United States and other World Bank–contributing countries, according to Diamond, should have taken aggressive corrective actions when Kenya’s anticorruption czar, John Githongo—appointed as Kenya’s permanent secretary for governance and ethics by Kibaki—was forced into exile after numerous death threats. ‘The World Bank,’ per Diamond, ‘should have been more vigilant to ensure that the monies given were aiding efforts to combat corruption and not to enrich those in power.’”

Paul Harvey often noted that democracy without discipline will not last. However, problems with democracy often happen because people do not fully grasp democracy. That is, they do not understand why democracy is better.

The #1 reason for democracy is NOT freedom. It is efficiency.

Democracy, put simply, is a better way of organization than the alternatives. And this is as obvious to the most humble of peasants as it is to a highly educated and successful person.

At the lowest level, democracy is not just doing what you are told, but asking a group to vote what they think is the best way of doing something.

And this holds true for just about any situation, unless you have to have a single leader who makes the decisions, or one person has all the expertise in the situation being decided. The two obvious examples of where democracy is less efficient are the military, and the classroom. But elsewhere, democracy usually reigns.

Which is obvious even to an uneducated peasant.

But it is voting that leads to freedom, because that is the only way a vote can work. If you and your group want to vote, you must have some freedom of speech, so you can discuss what it is you want to vote on.

You must also have some means to defend yourself, so all votes are not unanimous behind the biggest bully in the group.

Votes have to be made by your knowledge and experience, as well as your opinion, so even if a member of the group is a Priest, while he may ask heaven to give the group wisdom, he cannot order the group to vote one way, because heaven demands it. So there must be religious freedom.

And votes definitely don’t work if coerced by the government or police. So there needs to be restrictions on them as well.

But democracy can’t just be better than the other systems, it must supplant them. Take them over. Thing like tribalism, Sharia law, royalty, dictatorship, fascism, socialism, communism, and “criminalism”—corruption, can’t just be shown to be inferior, they must stop being inferior alternatives to democracy, for democracy to succeed.

So democracy also must be a process. One that grows only unevenly, and in starts and fits. But eventually it wins, not because it brings freedom, but because it brings a better way.

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