October 24, 2008 – 10:40 pm
One of the fatal flaws of the Bush approach/policy framework that I would love to see Barack Obama change…is this idea that it is America’s job to spread Democracy around the world. As a student of Democracy and child of the largest Democracy in the world (India), I do believe in and love Democracy. However, just like Capitalism….Democracy, too, is a flawed, chaotic, and imperfect system and I just don’t think it’s America’s job to tell other countries what political system is best for them.
In fact from a purely theoretical standpoint, I believe a ‘benevolent autocracy’ is likely the best political system to help efficiently/quickly advance a society economically and socially. The only issue is, those benevolent/enlightened autocrats are really difficult (virtually impossible) to come by….and power corrupts, so this too is a slippery slope.
In any event, to get back to the original point of this blog….I believe America needs to officially change this stated policy of spreading Democracy….and focus primarily on spreading/ensuring basic human rights for every human being. Even if you disagree with my point on Democracy….I think most should agree safety comes before politics…and the problems the people of the world face in so many countries (including the Middle East) are still about safety.
Let’s work on the basics, and get to politics later.
We just saw an episode of 30 days in which a white american practising christian goes and lives for 30 days in Dearborn MI with a muslim family on the condition that he must live like them and answer the call to prayer 5 times a day.
The program was really eye-opening. First, I learned that Islam, Judaism and Christianity come from the same religious lineage. I think I knew this somewhere deep in my brain, but it was nowhere near top of mind so wasn’t a part of my daily ruminations. But the real debate this program raised in my mind is this: What should the 1.4 billion muslims in the world be doing about the actions of terrorist’s who are taking innocent people’s lives in the name of their god?
Should they feel somehow responsible? Do they have a special duty to severaly condemn the terrorist’s actions? Or are they the victims themselves? How must they feel now that their very core beliefs and their beloved religion of Islam is now being thought of as a breeding ground for fundamentalism and terror? Even open minded, liberal folks today are drawing the conclusion that Islam must be part of the problem here. After all, it can’t be mere coincidence that a huge proportion of the ever-increasing number of terrorist incidents are planned and executed by muslims.
What do you think?
November 9, 2008 Addendum
I really think this issue and question applies to all religions. I have seen a huge rise in religious fundamentalism (really across many/all religions) in my life, and in many religions violence is “justified” in the name of god. What should other more peaceful followers of the same religions do? How do they separate themselves from the fundamentalist minority (yes, it is typically a minority) who taint the image of others in their religion through their actions?
