Democracy is Only One Part of Freedom

[louis c]

I know that this explanation seems mundane to DUers. I don't want to seem like an intellectual elitist and bring you all along with me, but I find, out there in the general public, a lack of understanding about the difference between democracy and freedom.

You can't have freedom without democracy, but you can have democracy without freedom. Our founding fathers knew this. When the body of the Constitution was written, it provided for elections and who could qualify to serve and vote. It also provided for amendments to adjust that democracy with time. However, it did not provide for individual freedom. This is where Madison and Jefferson talked about "the tyranny of the majority". Ratification of that Constitution was not possible without the Bill of Rights.

We have seen right here in America how Democracy can exist without freedom. For 100 years the South had "Jim Crow Laws". Freely elected Southern Sheriffs, as recently as the 1960's let unspeakable atrocities occur against African-American citizens and their allies, without lifting a finger. As a matter of fact, some were culpable in many instances. That is just one example of how democracy can exist without freedom.

Adolf Hitler was elected in a Parliamentary system in the 1930's Germany. Well, you know the rest of that story.

Even right here at home, right now, what good is a democracy if we allow corporate ownership of information, repeal of habeas corpus, eliminate the need for warrants and other abridging of the Bill of Rights? Our freedom is only partly the right to vote (or not vote). Our true heritage and freedom is our individual rights guaranteed by the first ten Amendments to the Constitution (and some subsequent ones, like the 14th and 16th).

This leads me to the War in Iraq. Our brave men and women are dying for what they believe is Iraqi freedom, when, in fact it is just a hollow democracy. During the "purple finger vote" one observer said "this is not an election, it is a census". It was not just a coincidence that the vote in Iraq exactly mirrored the sectarian division in that country. We are not expending lives and treasure for freedom in Iraq. The majority Shi'ite and minority Sunni have no clue what freedom really is. They think, just like the Southern Sheriffs did only a generation ago, in America, that majority rules and the minority has no rights.

How can we teach them the true meaning of freedom in Iraq, overnight, while they have lived twelve hundred years in a completely different culture of intolerance. On top of that fact, how can we teach them the true meaning of freedom in Iraq, when so many Americans are losing sight of it right here?

[louis c]

1. kick