The Sally Field of nations

Have you ever noticed how much of the American discussion about the “democratization” of Muslim countries, at least among conservatives, revolves around the question of whether or not the people in Democratizing Muslim Country X or Democratizing Muslim Country Y “like” us?

In connection with which, I just came upon this VFR entry from November 7, 2004:

“Freedom” does not assure the substantive result we require

From a comment at Little Green Footballs about the van Gogh murder:

Integration is not going well … How can you demand that people integrate into a free society?

Good point. And, of course, the same might be said of our supposed war to spread pro-Western democracy throughout the Mideast. How to do you simultaneously make people free, and demand that they like you?

[end of original entry]

Why do Americans fall into this obvious delusion? Because the American ideology tells us that we the people of the United States are defined solely by our political procedures. Therefore it is impossible for us to grasp the fact that if other peoples adopt our political procedures (such as democratic elections), that won’t necessarily make them be like us, let alone like us.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at December 05, 2011 07:28 PM | Send