Gimme Benign Dictatorship, Or Give Me Lobbyists
Fareed Zakaria's The Future of Freedom has a simple thesis, and it's just too bad that the neo-cons have no interest in it. He argues that democracy is no surefire cure for what ails developing nations, and if folks try it too soon, it can be disastrous. He also argues that America has become too democratic, with the subsequent result a country run by special interests supposedly representing populist interests. Zakaria moves quickly around the world to show that only nations with a certain level of per capita income have a likely chance of democratic success. More important, he says, is to develop liberal institutions, even if those come by autocratic fiat. In even plainer language- democracy does not equal freedom, if it does not produce the institutions that can ensure individual rights. The cry of the Left that the only cure for democracy is more democracy is poppycock, Zakaria argues, and he uses California as one of his key examples. The proposition and referendum agenda has been a disaster for the state (hello Prop 13), and the denouncement of elites from all corners puts complex issues into the hands of folks who are ill-equipped to understand them. The book was written pre-Iraq, but there is a short paperback-only chapter that addresses that debacle. Zakaria is writing for the masses, so his prose is spare as is the work- it's a tidy 264 pages. Mothing earth-shattering here, but timeliness is next to secularness. It's just another reminder that screaming "democracy" at the top of your lungs is not always the answer to all complex political problems. Far better to work economic reform, secure order and institutionalize rights that can ultimately lead to democracy. Then, limit the shit out of that system- otherwise you end up with K-street, and who needs to see another 500 million red power ties shooting down beneath turtle-shell horned rims. I don't, that's for sure.