Freedom Trumps Democracy, Part Three

The overriding problem with the attitude of the Obama administration towards democracy seems to be a superstitious belief that democratic governments are good governments. This is based on the fallacy of assuming that foreign policy should be based on a priori rules that apply to all situations. This, as Jeane Kirkpatrick demonstrated, is madness, because a despotism that hates America and represses personal freedom is not any better just because it is popularly elected. Iran and Nicaragua are two examples of how democratically elected governments can be just as tyrannical as any military dictatorship, and, in fact, can be even worse when hostile to our own country. Turkey is the next example of this. If Obama succeeds in getting elections in Turkey, all it will do is create a new mullahcracy, one certain to be hostile to Israel and the United States. If this is what Obama wants, he should admit it. If it is not what he wants, he needs to get over this obsession with democratic despotisms.