Democracy is messy

Yes, Donald Rumsfeld said it, "Democracy is messy". The Bush administration now realizes that it can get so messy that you just have to ignore it. This via Cernig
Iraqi Government to UN: 'Don't Extend Mandate for Bush's Occupation'
Bush needs the UN's cover to justify the occupation, but the only way he can renew the expiring UN mandate is to cut Iraq's frail democracy out of the process.

The United Nations Security Council, with support from the British and American delegations, is poised to cut the Iraqi parliament out of one of the most significant decisions the young government will make: when foreign troops will depart. It's an ugly and unconstitutional move, designed solely to avoid asking an Iraqi legislature for a blank check for an endless military occupation that it's in no mood to give, and it will make a mockery of Iraq's nascent democracy (which needs all the legitimacy it can get).

While the Bush administration frequently invokes sunny visions of spreading democracy and "freedom" around the world, the fact remains that democracy is incompatible with its goals in Iraq. The fact remains that the biggest headache supporters of the occupation of Iraq have to deal with is the fact of the occupation itself. As far back as the middle of 2004, more than nine out of 10 Iraqis said the U.S.-led forces were "occupiers," and only 2 percent called them "liberators." Things have only gone downhill since then, and any government that represents the will of the Iraqi people would have no choice but to demand a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops. This fact poses an enormous problem, as the great triumph of the Bush administration and its supporters has been in their ability to convince a much of the Americans population that Iraqi interests and Washington's interests are in harmony, even when they're diametrically opposed.

Crucial to this fiction is a U.N. mandate that confers legal cover on the so-called "multinational" forces in Iraq. The mandate is now coming up for renewal, and a majority of Iraqi legislators oppose its renewal unless conditions are placed on it, conditions that may include a demand for a timetable for the departure of American troops. The process of renewing the mandate is highlighting the political rift that's divided the country and fueled most of the violence that's plagued the new state. That's the rift between nationalists - those Iraqis who, like most of their countrymen, oppose the presence of foreign troops on the ground, the wholesale privatization of Iraq's natural resources and the division of their country into ethnic and sectarian fiefdoms, and Iraqi separatists who at least tolerate the occupation - if not support it - and favor a loose sectarian/ethnic-based federation of semiautonomous states held together by a minimal central government in Baghdad.

In the United States, the commercial media has largely ignored this story, focusing almost exclusively on sectarian violence and doing a poor job giving their readers and viewers a sense of what's driving Iraq's political crisis. An understanding of the tensions between nationalists and separatists is necessary to appreciate the import of the parliament being cut out of the legislative process and the degree to which doing so hurts the prospect of real political reconciliation among Iraq's many political factions.

As you can see Democracy can not only be messy but get in the way of hegemony and lust for oil and power. Of course none of this should come as any surprise since the administration and the Bush/Cheney Republicans have shown both here and abroad that Democracy is something to talk about and subvert.

This is a mistake and not necessary!

Democratic candidates trying to reach religious voters

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Tired of being seen by religious voters as too secular or even hostile toward religion, the Democrat party and its presidential candidates have launched an all-out effort to win their votes.

The mainstream Christian community has no problem keeping their religion out of their government. The Christian extremists of the Religious Right will always want religion guiding the government. As I said yesterday the influence of the anti-democratic Christian extremists has peaked and is in decline.

I predicted in 2004 that the influence of the cultural warriors of the religious right had peaked. Much too late unfortunately with Roberts and Alito on the Supreme Court. I based that on the observation that Calvinistic religious movements have historically never lasted more than a generation or two in the west. The decline of the cultural warriors may have been hastened by the Terri Schiavo debacle which was spawned by the lunatic fringe of the Religious right and the scandals involving Bible thumping politicians and religious leaders.

Mitt Romney has attempted to do a 180 on all his core beliefs to pander to the Religious Right and they don't trust him. The same fate will befall the Democrats. The declining population of the Religious Right will simply stay home on election day like they used to which means they won't vote Republican. Evangelical Christianity and Democracy are as incompatible as the Taliban and Democracy. Any attempt to "reach" them will result in compromising Democratic and progressive issues. Religion should be a part of ones private life and not apart of the secular government tradition of the United States.

When you're out stumpin don't do no thumpin! Leave the Bible at home.

Joe Gandelman also has some excellent commentary.

David Broder says.....

....the problem with the United States is all the pesky citizens.
David Broder asks: what do they think this is, a Democracy? Well at least that seems to be what he is saying in his latest rambling column, A Mob-Rule Moment.

A particularly virulent strain of populism has made official Washington altogether too responsive to public opinion.

The nerve of those people to think that those they elect should actually listen to them.

In today's Washington, a badly weakened president and a dangerously compliant congressional leadership are no match for the power of public opinion -- magnified and sometimes exaggerated by modern communications and interest group pressure.

Sorry Mr Broder, I fail to see how politicians being "match for the power of public opinion" is a bad thing. Isn't that why we call them "representatives"?

Of course since Mr Broder sees himself as a centrist both Republicans and Democrats are "guilty" of listening to the people.

The latest cave-ins involve immigration and trade policy, and both seriously threaten the national interest.

The Republican base stopped the immigration bill and "labor and liberal groups" ended fast track trade agreements. We can see where Mr Broder's heart lies, the defeat of both of these bills was a blow to corporate America. The immigration bill would have given them cheap labor in the US and fast track trade makes it easier for corporations to take advantage of slave labor abroad. At least now we know why David Broder hates Democracy.

Update
Ed Morrissey gets Broder exactly right:

At Heading Right, I take a look at Broder's cri de coeur over the use of "modern communications" in intimidating Congress into rejecting bad legislation. The paradigm has changed, and Broder appears unaware of it or incapable of understanding it -- perhaps because he has so much to lose.

231 years latter

If you have read the personal letters and papers of the founding fathers you know they really didn't anticipate that their grand experiment would last 231 years. Of course they were correct, it didn't. The revolution was all about escaping the tyranny of a monarch, the church and a feudal economic system. Look around and check out what we have today. We have a president and vice president who think they are all powerful monarchs. We have tyrannical church leaders trying to use the government to enact their 16th century views of the world. We have a world controlled by huge multinational corporations that resembles that of the feudal British empire complete with a middle class of indentured servants.

Bob Geiger sums up my feelings this day, No Joy This Fourth Of July.

I've always enjoyed the Fourth of July.

It's summer, it's a festive holiday about celebration -- not mourning or remembrance -- and, as a military Veteran, it has been a time to feel good about whatever miniscule role I've played in maintaining our country's strength and freedom.

But I'm going to skip the barbeques and just go to work today. I do this because the state of my country under the reign of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and their entire cabal of crooks and non-patriots, leaves me with a feeling so hollow and barren that I simply cannot use drinking a beer, eating a hot dog or watching fireworks as a soothing balm.

Yes, the founding fathers were right - it couldn't last.