15 January 2007

Western Democracy's Achilles Heel

Western liberal democracy is undoubtedly the best system of government to have evolved from humankind's 5000 year journey of civilization. Western liberal democracy, if measured by the liberty and freedom it provides its individual members, is unequalled.

Yet, when it comes to post-modern Western Liberal Democracy, an ugly underbelly has emerged, and that is partisan politics at the expense of national interest. When, that partisanship reaches into the institutions of academia and the news media, then Western Liberal Democracy begins to look pretty fragile.

Nothing has exemplified the point more in recent times than the raging debate in the United States over the Iraq Conflict. Daily, whether through blogs, MSM op-ed, MSM news, academia, or political parties, we are subjected to a steady blizzard of rhetoric that is completely barren of historic context and facts, military tactical context and facts, and short term historic context (who said what and when a few months ago). Politicians can literally spout and take positions then reverse them without much political cost.

Worse yet, the single most important institution within a democracy for disseminating information, the MSM, suffers from selective amnesia or blindness when duplicity and hypocrisy occur among politicians. The key benefactor in this case is the "progressive" or "liberal" politician, as he is free to make declarations, policy announcements, and the like, then change course a few months later without facing the scrutiny of the media. The Liberal pundit would, of course, hotly dispute this claim.

In the end the environment is such, that winning office by simply opposing anything the "other side" proposes becomes the modus operandi. On Iraq and Afghanistan, it puts opposition parties in the position of literally depending on military defeat in order to make political gain. Winning elections becomes more important than winning wars.

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