Democracy Anyone

Thoughts for today .....

When I listen to George W. Bush's statements on how the spread of democracy is a necessary and sufficient condition to end terrorism, I am amazed by the sheer leap of faith implied and assumed of the listener. While I do submit that the statement may indeed be true, as a scientifically minded person, I am deeply offended by such total reliance on selective empirical observations. There is no model that can scientifically back this conclusion. Not in complexity theory, chaos theory or anything else I've studied. There are examples all the way back from the dawn of civilization to present day where non-democratic forms of governance have flourished and been prosperous and have nary a hint of terrorism in their accounts.

I do love the democratic institution and do believe that it does bring the best known (as yet) form of governance to society. But what made democracy rise to the level of being a panacea? What makes it the dream-come-true of modern society? What makes it a virtue that everyone around the world should strive for? Why should we be inclined to believe that collective morality or collective dishonesty is better than what has been working for some societies so far? Are all people that are not in democracies unhappy? Unhappy enough to create terror for no reason other than so-called freedom-envy? Who are we anyway to comment on and judge their happiness? Happiness is relative after all ...... then again that is a topic for another day.