Democracy At Risk

Having failed to find any WMD in Iraq, George W Bush has resorted to his "freedom" agenda. Mr. Bush repeatedly claims that "democracies don’t go to war with each other." His prescription for lasting peace in the Middle East and the end of terrorism is spreading democracy (by force) to the world. In pursuing his "freedom" agenda, George W Bush, and his poodle Tony Blair, have undermined democracy in the West. Their single-minded pursuit of what they believe is just and right has now become an existential threat to western liberal democracy and our way of life.

As much of a violent and dangerous threat al Qaeda is to the United States and its allies, it has never been an existential threat. It seems inconceivable that a small group of thugs can violently destroy a political and economic power as massive as the United States. However, what al Qaeda can do is cause the United States to cannibalize itself as it undermines the pillars of democracy in its own perceived self-defense. To do so, al Qaeda needs an unwitting and fiercely ideological patsy – it has found one in George W Bush.

Bush’s notion that democracies do not war with each other is debatable at best. However, the argument, even if it is accepted, is based on the belief that the inherent restraints within democratic society prevent those societies from engaging in warfare, except as an absolute last resort. Rudolph J Rummel, one of the early proponents of the "democratic peace theory", based his theory on Immanuel Kant’s notion of "Perpetual Peace":

Rummel’s response when asked why he believed democracies didn’t fight was to recall Immanuel Kant’s Perpetual Peace, published in 1795.

Kant’s theory is that democratic leaders are restrained by the resistance of their people to bearing the costs and deaths of war. And a democratic culture of negotiation and conciliation, plus the hurdles to taking swift action, favours peace.

George W Bush, however, is actively undermining the fundamental pillar of the very theory he touts by his "stay the course" policy in Iraq. Mr. Bush says that he is not constrained by public opinion because he knows he is right. By proceeding with his policy against overwhelming public opinion, he has undermined the ideological basis of his crusade.

As George W Bush, and his poodle Blair, strain to "stay the course" against the restraints of democracy, they are beginning to damage the foundations of democratic society. One such restraint, as explicitly declared in Article II, Section 2 of the United States Constitution, is the absolute authority of the civilian leadership of the military:

The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States

The continued pointlessness of the Iraq War is causing the military to publicly speak out against the civilian leadership that is asking them to sacrifice for a war with little or no public support.

Up until this week, most public opposition to the war has come from retired U.S. military generals. However, all that changed last week in Britain when Chief of the General Staff of the Army, Sir Richard Dannatt, spoke out against the Iraq War. Sir Richard called the coalition’s dream of bringing democracy to Iraq "naive" and he called for British troops to pull out as soon as possible. He also stated, rather unsurprisingly, that the presence of foreign troops on Iraqi soil is fueling terrorism.

Sir Richard’s candid comments sent shockwaves in London and Washington. By week’s end Tony Blair, to salvage his authority, had to declare that he agrees with his army chief and that what Sir Richard was saying was "the same as we all are." Tony Blair had in effect lost control over his military. The military leadership was openly questioning the policy of their civilian masters – a recipe for disaster in any democratic society. Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair’s blatant disregard for the normal constraints of democratic societies in their quixotic pursuit of "peace" has led to this turn of events.

Another feature of a democratic society that leads to stability and not war, according to Rummel, is its guarantee of civil liberties. Recently Mr. Bush and his war machine have taken a giant bite out of our notion of civil liberties:

When President Bush rammed the bill on military commissions through Congress, the Republicans crowed about creating a process that would be tough on terrorists but preserve essential principles of justice. “America can be proud,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the bill’s architects.

Unfortunately, Mr. Graham was wrong. One of the many problems with the new law is that it will only make it harder than it already is to separate the real terrorists from the far larger group of inmates at Guantánamo Bay who were bit players in the Taliban or innocent bystanders. Mr. Graham and other supporters of this dreadful legislation seem to have forgotten that American justice does not merely deliver swift punishment to the guilty. It also protects the innocent.

…

The Military Commissions Act of 2006 makes it virtually impossible to contest a status tribunal’s decision. It prohibits claims of habeas corpus — the ancient right of prisoners in just societies to have their detentions reviewed — or any case based directly or indirectly on the Geneva Conventions. Even if an appeal got to the single appeals court now authorized to hear it, the administration would very likely argue that it cannot be heard without jeopardizing secrets, as it has done repeatedly.

The new law championed by Mr. Bush and the congressional Republicans allows the government to detain individuals without the right of those individuals to challenge their detentions. That is a license for abuse. This law prohibits habeas corpus, an idea the framers deemed so important, that they included it in the text of the Constitution itself, not in an amendment to the Constitution. Article I, section 9 of the United States Constitution states:

The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.

We are neither facing a rebellion nor an invasion. Yet, we have suspended habeas corpus.

Bit by bit, the fabric of democracy is being undermined by Mr. Bush’s "War on Terror" and his Iraq War. We are fighting them "there" while losing freedoms here. We are undermining our democratic institutions in trying to spread "democracy" abroad. At some point, our leaders must be held accountable if democracy is to be preserved.

We can start to hold our leaders to account starting November 7th. Have no doubt that we are now facing an existential threat to our democracy from within. As we face the real enemies from outside that seek to harm us, we must guard against the forces from within that strike at our very foundations. George W Bush and his rubber stamp Republican congress have brought this challenge to our democracy. On November 7th, we are called upon to defend our democracy.