Democracy is only valid if it benefits America

The Middle East Peace Process got the shaft when the Palestinian people overwhelmingly, and quite democratically, voted in favor of Hamas; the friendly bunch who represent the Islamic fundamentalist political viewpoint. Essentially Hamas' party line is that Israel has no right to exist at all and that every Israeli should be driven into the sea, weather permitting.

Now couple Hamas' political victory with the fact that Benjamin Nettenyahu is slowly creeping back into the forefront of Israeli politics, and it's easy to see how things can go south right quick. In fact, I think everyone in the Middle east is starting to get rid of their handbaskets, just to be safe. Nettenyahu is a man who's view of Arabs is something akin to General Phil Sheridan's 19th century view of American Indians, "The only good injun is a dead injun."

It's also funny to note that right after the Palestinian people democratically elected the Hamas slate, Washington immediately started to make rumblings about cutting off financial aid to the Palestinian Authority . So basically, judging by this reaction, I take the current administration's philosophy to be that democratic elections are the ideal, unless, of course, you democratically elect people who don't like us... in which case we starve you.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't like Hamas or what they purport to stand for. But when you have an administration that keeps harping about the need for democratic process in the Middle East and then, after a perfectly successful demonstration of that process, immediately hint that the United States might not recognize the democratically elected government because their political platform is anti-American; well then... that's just a bunch of horseshit.

"Well, yeah...but Hamas is a terrorist organization!" Sinn Fein were considered to be terrorists at one time, but we deal with them now, don't we?

If nothing else, this election proves one thing a lot of people seem rather ignorant of; that Democracy isn't a magic bullet. Just because a government is elected by the populace, doesn't mean it's going to be one that's friendly towards Washington, Tel Aviv or London, and this is something people just have to get used to. And it's certainly not some sort of philosophical package the United States can gift to other nations with laser-guided smart bombs and the 82nd Airborne. It's just a system where people in a region or state determine their own form and content of government, whether we like it or not.

If Hamas wants to talk, and signifies that they're willing to work towards change without blowing shit up, I see no reason for Washington not to deal with them; especially after all the choice sound-bites about the need for democracy in the region. However, if Washington chooses to ignore the newly elected government of the Palestinian Authority arbitrarily, without any dialogue, then all that crap about Democracy in the Middle East was just as valid as all the bullshit that they churned out about WMDs and pre-war links to al Qaeda in Iraq. Just another packet of sound and fury which utlimately signified nothing.

Not that anybody in America will care. They'll still back an illiterate war-mongering asshole like George Bush just because "he's Republican." Idiots...

And that's all I have to say about that. Sorry for the stale diatribe, but thanks for stopping in just the same.

This article was written for the most part by Javier Putterman. I changed and added things to it as well.