W.R. Marshall -- Yowsa, Yowsa, Welcome to the Midway of Democracy

YOWSA, YOWSA, WELCOME TO THE MIDWAY OF DEMOCRACY

by Dr. W.R. Marshall, Ph.D
December 8, 2007
NewsWithViews.com

History will look back on this administration and realize the 43rd President of the United States was quite a rube, a sucker. We will all consider the nation lucky that no carnival set up its tent on the South Lawn. I can just see the President draining the nation�s coiffures�right, he already did that�borrowing more money from China for another try at shooting that little red star out of the center of a piece of paper.

If nothing else�and there will be nothing else�King George the Dim wanted to bring democracy to the world. This idea was based on a cursory, neo-con reading of The End of History and the Last Man by Francis Fukuyama. As recent history has shown, this administration is bad at pretty much everything, so it�s understandable that they missed the meat of Fukuyama�s book and went with the bumper sticker. After all, these are the folks that brought us complex intellectual arguments like, �you�re either against the terrorists of for them,� �the way forward,� and let us not forget the �cake walk� we�d have in Iraq.

The push for universal democracy should start at home. Right now, we�ve got the democracy special running in the USA: warrantless wire-taps, suspension of habeas corpus, secret prisons, torture, the right to kidnap foreign citizens on foreign soil, and the latest, the great state of Virginia has outlawed the wearing of �droopy drawers� (if you see boxers above the waistband, call the cops), and several other states and cities are considering the same. Now that�s what the Founding Fathers called freedom.

It might be safe to say Dubya�s grasp of things like democracy and honesty are a bit tenuous. So when Bush looked Russian President Vladimir Putin in the eye in 2001 and �found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy,� you have to take it with a grain of salt�or some shredded Halliburton internal memos. Since that meeting, soulmate Putin has been a great ally, telling the US if it built a missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, Russia would point its missiles at Western Europe for the first time since the Cold War ended. (Don�t you miss the Arms Race.) The former KGB boss and �straightforward and trustworthy� Putin also laid claim to the North Pole, which had been international forever, has continually crushed opposition by whatever means necessary, and as for the democratic elections held by this �straightforward and trustworthy� fellow; observers said Russia�s most recent election "was not fair and failed to meet many OSCE and Council of Europe commitments and standards for democratic elections."

Set up those milk bottles again...

Saudi Arabia, pearl of Middle Eastern democracy, run by Bush buddy King Abdullah. You don�t recall the SA�home to 15 of the 19 Sept.11 hijackers, the place from which we withdrew our �infidel� army back in 2003 (just like Bin Laden wanted), and recently in the news for sentencing a 19 year old victim of gang-rape to 200 lashes and six months in prison. But in the spirit of egalitarian democracy, the rapists will also be lashed, as well as an innocent guy who�s the victims friend and happened to be in the car with her, but he�s only getting 90 lashes�that�s like a week at Club Med.

Yowsa, yowsa, throw a ball through the clown�s mouth�

Commander and Hick Bush was dialed in when it came to Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf as ''somebody who believes in democracy.'' Especially the kind of democracy where you deny opposition access to the system and even entry to the country, declare martial law, shoot protestors�generally, the best parts of the Patriot Act.

Just a trillion and half dollars for a game you can�t lose�I never said you could win�

Ah, Iraq, where the new footprint begins. I have to say Team Bush has made a great start in forming a western style democracy there. Bribery is rampant, billions have gone missing, it�s really shaping up. According to Transparency International, a global organization that identifies and fights governmental corruption, this year, Iraq is the third most corrupt government on Earth. (Ranked 178 out of 180.) I don�t want to say Saddam was doing a better job than Petraeus, but 2003, the year Bush invaded, it was 113. In just four short years democracy has taken hold and now, it�s beginning to look like Congress.

�Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.� H.L Mencken would pleased to see how good and hard it�s going.

You haven�t tried the ring toss yet�

W. R. Marshall is a syndicated columnist and novelist. His column, 'A Dull Ache'(tm) is read in over one hundred markets around the world. He also has a PhD, an M.F.A., and three singularly unimpressed children. His wife has been known to say, �Hey, Pynchon, do the dishes.�