McCarthy: Let’s stop defining democracy down

An exchange at the Corner under the title “A liberal war no more” culminates with Andrew McCarthy ‘splaining to Jonah Goldberg what is wrong with promoting democracy for Muslims.

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Ben W. writes:

Just read the Andrew McCarthy response to Jonah Goldberg. Whenever someone discusses bringing democracy to a nation, there is a suspicion that a non-native, foreign structure is being imposed on an environment. It is this aspect of “bringing into” that interests me.

There is however a different model of transformation—not a “bringing into” but a “calling out.” The Hebrews were called out of Egypt—separated. The model of “bringing into” Islamic nations will not work. Muslims have to be “called out” of Islam.

America was born as an exodus from England. This was a “calling out”—a separation. The early Americans conceived of North America as a new Canaan—modeling themselves after the Hebrew exodus from Egypt.

Christians were conceived of as a “called out generation”—separated from this world. Whenever a radical transformation is required, it is the “called out” model that works, not the “bringing into” one.

LA replies:

Excellent thoughts. And if the Muslims are to have their exodus from Islam, there is no human force external to Islam that can make that happen. The calling must be felt and responded to by the Muslims themselves.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at July 18, 2007 06:42 PM | Send