From Dictatorship to Freedom
I’ve decided to take on this week’s question at Homespun Bloggers:
Do you believe there is a downside to encouraging nations to move toward being free societies? Can all nations benefit from the move from dictatorship to freedom, or are some cultures simply incapable of it and why? Might they end up worse off? Also, do you believe these shifts are always in America and the West’s interests, or will we simply create democratic enemies that are worse for us than the dictators they replace?
I don’t mean to be simplistic, but it’s hard for me to think of a long-term downside to encouraging freedom. I’ve never lived under a dictatorship, of course, and I suppose that there are some that tend to be more benevolent than others, but given that selfishness is endemic to the human race, most all dictatorships, even the most benign ones, end up enriching themselves significantly, often to the impoverishment of their own people. By its nature as well, dictatorships discourage dissent, many (most?) violently at one point or another. All around the world, and down through history, we see such overwhelming evidence of people who will go to incredible lengths to breathe the heady air of freedom. How many folks have died fleeing Cuba for Miami? How many people were gunned down yards from freedom at the Berlin Wall? How many folks tried to climb aboard the American helicopters as they lifted off from Saigon? From the boys at Bunker Hill, to Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty, or give me death” speech, to Gettysburg and Normandy, we see the truth that the desire for freedom beats deep in the chest of every human being.
This is not to say that freedom is easy; gaining it never is (and some would say that keeping it is an equally difficult task!). Temporarily, it might be said that some nations end up “worse off”–but again, if “freedom” truly takes root, these setbacks, undoubtedly severe in some cases, will end up being short-lived.
It would seem as well to always, in the long run, be in America’s best interests to deal with free societies. Many will not share all of our values, it is true, and sometimes we have had reasonably good relations with dictators, but think about our relations with other relatively free nations: we tend to settle our differences by diplomacy and negotiation, and not staring down the barrel of an AK-47. Nations where freedom flourishes tend to act in better faith toward other nations in general than do dictatorships.
Even in the most benign of dictatorships, where a measure of security is provided by the “goodness” of the potentate, is that “security” worth the loss of freedom? Those who would trade freedom for security deserve neither. I’ll take liberty every time…
This phrase comes from the 1978 "Jonestown massacre" in which most members of the Peoples Temple cult, blindly following their leader Jim Jones, committed suicide by drinking cyanide-laced Kool-Aid.
Osborne: A Contrarian's Guide to Knowing God
Schlossberg: Idols For Destruction
One Response to “From Dictatorship to Freedom”
That’s pretty much what I said in my response too, so of course I’m in agreement with you.
However, I’d say that there is a risk in adopting a policy of spreading freedom and democracy. For example, President Carter pulled the rug out from the Shah and Somoza, and both Iran and Nicaragua ended up worse off as a result. While Nicaragua has recovered, Iran obviously has not.
We could end up with the same situation in Saudi Arabia. The trick is to push the regime into reforming without tearing it down so fast that another dictatorship takes it place.
The Redhunter ~ Feb 16, 2005 at 5:51 pm