Knowing things with metaphysical certainty when most of the world is operating under carefully constructed myths is painful. Why? Knowing things that others do not fosters a sense of existential loneliness and makes polite conversation about many important things all but impossible.
Let’s take the story that is being shoved down our throats by almost all media sources now; the Iranian election “fraud” and subsequent unrest. The news is augmented by proclamations from Obama, France’s Sarkozy, Germany’s Merkel, and just about every politician in the UK. Oh, I forgot to mention the US Congress voting 404 to 1 supporting the protesters.
We are being told that the elections were rigged, even though western pollsters all had Ahmadinejad ahead by a 2 to 1 margin on election’s eve. This matters not to our government which continues to place politicians in press conferences dutifully covered by a pliant press corps.
The meme proliferating is that Americans must stand with the Iranian people to spread democracy. We have heard this clarion call for democracy since 1916 when Woodrow Wilson wanted to make the world safe for its flowering.
We heard the call again many times after 2000 when GW Bush convinced conservatives that spreading democracy was essential for keeping America safe. But there is a huge problem that most people just flat out miss.
Democracy has never…I REPEAT NEVER been a real principle animating our foreign policy. You see principles cannot be selectively applied and still remain principles. Selectively applied principles become rationalizations for policy. A brief overview is in order to prove the democracy myth’s selective application.
Wilson’s proclamations of democracy after WW I exempted the Middle East from the fruits of its principles. Monarchs were installed from one end of the Middle East to the other. Europe, the UK and the United States helped to install these oil monarchs. After WW II, liberation movements to free former colonies were supported by various governments…of course the notable exceptions again were the kingdoms in the Middle East which sat upon those huge oil reserves.
Fast forward to 1953 in Iran. The US sent in the CIA to overthrow the democratically elected Mussadiq and the Shah was reinstalled. The Shah was of course a monarch and dictator of the highest order. Here, the principle of democracy actively overthrown, by our government.
Algerian Islamists won elections and the military coup that followed was supported by the US. Democracy overthrown and only just supported by our government.
In Pakistan, the democratically elected President was overthrown in a coup by General Musharraf. Democracy once again overthrown and not only supported by the United States, but funded with billions of dollars in aid.
Egypt’s President Mubarrak, a brutal dictator throws his political opposition in jail routinely. His anti-democratic record is manifest, yet he remains at the top of the list in US aid and support. Democracy advocates jailed by our puppet with not a word of support for democracy.
In 1990, the US made war against Iraq to roll back their attack on another anti-democratic regime; Kuwait. After winning the war, instead of supporting democracy, our government reinstalled the monarchy. Democracy? Nakedly absent here to any willing to look past the delusional media reporting.
In Palestinian territories, the US insisted on HAMAS participation in elections because polls showed that US supported FATEH would win. HAMAS won in a surprise outcome in closely monitored elections. What did our government do after the election? Refuse to accept the democratic will of the people and refuse to deal with the DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED HAMAS.
Did I mention the fact that Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and the rest of the oil emirates have little to no democratic processes? No matter, they have oil and oil trumps principles any time.
And now, our government feigns another interest in democracy. This time it is Iran that is the target of our hypocrisy. It is not hyperbole to suggest that selectively applied principles must inevitably lead to hypocrisy. And there is so much that only a concerted propaganda effort can hide the reality from the public.
Politicians, the media and pundits are unanimous in saying the election was rigged. They also promote the idea that the demonstrations are spontaneous. They ignore evidence of CIA tampering, reportedly giving $400 million to dissident groups.
Plus, the US has supported Jundallah, a thuggish, drug peddling anti-Ahmadinejad group based in Pakistan. Once again to subvert the true, democratic will of the Iranian people. Yet, the media continue to suggest that we must support democracy. Who can be against democracy? It is like being against apple pie. The media is well paid for their aggressive promotion of hypocrisy.
We will leave it for another day to determine whether media pundits are stupid and ignorant of democratic principles selectivity applied. But from this point forward, when you hear any politician use lofty ideals of democracy for the foundation of policy, please hold them to those principles across the board. You will soon find out that their rhetoric falls far short of meaningful principle.
