Powerline on Hypocrisy and Democracy

On the matter of Musharraf imposing a “state of emergency” in Pakistan, Paul at Powerline writes:

Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.) fretted that the U.S. will be seen as “the epitome of hypocrisy if we don’t make a clear stand for democracy. . .in Pakistan.” But Delahunt did not explain why our foreign policy be determined solely by a desire to avoid hypocrisy rather than by a weighing of all the advantages and disadvantages of a given option?

Let’s see. We, the USA, are supposed to champions of freedom and democracy. When we prop up dictators and other non-democratic governments in (just to name four prominent Muslim countries) Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan, what are people supposed to think? Not terrorists. Not people who “hate America” for some irrational reason. Remember when Bush claimed that the terrorists hate America because of our freedoms? But what about ordinary, fair-minded, thoughtful people in the Middle East and elsewhere? What are they supposed to think?

I’m not sure that Rep. Delahunt claimed that our foreign policy be determined solely by a desire to avoid hypocrisy. But, in a battle for hearts and minds, hypocrisy matters.

We like to think we’re the good guys. We liberated Europe in World War Two. (I know we also fought and won the Cold War against Communism, but many consider our tactics and actions in that struggle to have been not so pure. Can anyone say Vietnam? Mossadegh?) My point is that resting on our D-Day laurels gets old. And, I’m comfortable with the notion that in the ensuing decades, we had to be “pragmatic,” on many occasions. Fine.

But if we’re going to present ourselves as champions of freedom and democracy, eventually we have to promote some freedom and democracy. And, eventually, we have to stop propping up convenient dictators.

Comments

  1. David C. wrote:

    In what way are we propping up Musharraf as a dictator? His imposition of martial law/state of emergency just happened. So far the only thing we’ve done has been to express official displeasure with his actions. We can’t really do much about it in any case, but we aren’t supporting his suspension of the consitution.

    If we sign a big new arms deal with Pakistan any time soon, or do anything else to bolster his position I think you’d have a point. But so far we haven’t done anything other than criticize him.

    Posted 09 Nov 2007 at 9:30 pm

  2. Stephen wrote:

    David,

    With $10 billion in aid since 2001, the 4th largest recipient of U.S. aid.

    Anyway, I’m not saying we have to cut Musharraf off this month, or this year. But sooner, or later, we gotta face our hypocrisy on this “democracy and freedom” stuff.

    Posted 09 Nov 2007 at 10:50 pm

  3. David C. wrote:

    Stephen,

    Yes, but that was prior to the current open assumption of dictatorial powers. Before that he was at least paying lip service to the idea of democratic government such as having opposition parties, an independent supreme court, etc.

    In any event, I don’t think we can or should tie our foreign policy down to the point where we can only cooperate with fellow democratic states. We have to work with what is available.

    Posted 10 Nov 2007 at 3:39 pm

  4. Brutus wrote:

    Great sentiment, except of course it grinds up against reality. A reality very reminiscent of the Cold War. Despite the fact that Bhutto is not connected to Islamists herself, I doubt she could hold power against the Islamists within Pakistan. And I doubt she would offer the same aid against Islamic fundamentalism that Musharraf has given thus far. It hardly serves American interests to have the Pakistanis vote themselves straight into a full theocracy. Read your Aristotle.

    -B.

    Posted 16 Nov 2007 at 12:48 am

  5. Stephen wrote:

    It hardly serves American interests …

    That’s a perfectly fair perspective. If we want to “look out for own interests,” that’s reasonable. Then let’s just drop the “democracy and freedom” charade, and let it be known that we are acting in our interest, to protect ourselves, period.

    Read your Melian Dialogue. :)

    Posted 16 Nov 2007 at 7:51 am

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