The Inside Assyria Discussion Forum #5

=> Re-evaluating Democracy

Re-evaluating Democracy

Posted by pancho (Moderator) - Wednesday, October 8 2008, 21:58:47 (CEST)
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Democracy isn’t a cure-all...it isn’t magic....it doesn’t even have to be fair...or accommodating...or mindful of minorities. All democracy promises is rule by the majority....51% of the population, that’s all. Nazis took power through free and open elections and look how they treated minorities. There’s no promise to treat the minority well...none at all. So long as the minority abides by the rule of the majority they should be allowed the full protection of the law...but the majority can set the laws....so the minority can still be treated unfairly, even though it’s done “by law”. The new “Jewish Laws” made it legal to persecute Jews....it was done democratically.

Slavery has existed in democracies...women, who are the numerical majority, have been denied equal rights in every democracy on earth today and in many ways still are. Democracy is no guarantee of individual rights. What saves a democracy is the background and heritage of the people...and, in the case of the United States the Bill of Rights...which wasn’t part of the Constitution initially but was added later precisely to protect the minority...so that democracy didn’t simply become a dictatorship of the majority....many tyrants instead of just one.

What Assyrians want now in Iraq isn’t really a democracy...what they want is the millet system of the old Ottoman empire....they want that special status they enjoyed then, not equality under the law of Iraq. In a democracy no group can have special rights. Technically speaking a minority can’t even have a special representative in the legislature.....if Italian-Americans want a politician to represent them they have to vote one into office...they can’t demand they be given one to protect Italian interests....or that all Italians get to choose one for themselves...they have to enter the body-politic like everyone else. What Assyrians want is the “right” to elect their own representative...that’s no different than just appointing one exclusively for themselves...all “election” means is the choice of who it is to be....that isn’t democracy, it’s glorified appointment.

Anna Eshoo can’t be a representative “for the Assyrian people”, just because she’s half-Assyrian. She represents ALL her constituents....as they ALL elected her. What they want in Iraq would be like asking all Assyrians, or all Blacks, in California to elect a representative just for them....that’s not an election in any democratic sense.

Certainly a government can create an office to protect the interests of an endangered minority...such as the Bureau of Indian Affairs in this country....but native Americans can’t “democratically elect” a Senator or Representative just for themselves to serve in Congress.

If Iraq votes for legislators for each of its ethnic or religious groups they’re only going to have a tribal council...not a government.

Assyrians got their “democracy”...they got majority rule and free elections...and the Shi’a majority is in power and always will be. Be careful what you ask for.

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