Recently, the leader of a major world power offered a definition of democracy and freedom that I thought our readers might be interested in seeing. It stands in such contrast to the functional definition offered by our very own President, for our very own people, embodied as it is in the Patriot Act and the “Military Commissions Act” which, among other things repeal the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Amendments to the US Constitution, and on that sly addition to the “Defense Appropriations” Bill that allows the President to use the Army to deal with “domestic insurrection,” however he might define it. And so…“Freedom is universal and democracy is universal. People desire to live in free societies. The vast majority of people want to live in moderation and not have extremists kill innocent people. Our policies are to promote that kind of form of government. Democracies yield peace. Democracies don’t fight each other. It’s a universal right. Democracy means you can worship any way you choose, freely. People protest, that’s a good sign. It’s a sign of a healthy society.”
Yes, folks, these words actually appeared in a response George Bush made to a question delivered at the press conference that followed his meeting with President Yudhoyono of Indonesia on Nov. 20, 2006.
So the follow-up question has to be, “What is this guy on, anyway?”
This item originally appeared on BuzzFlash on Tue, 11/28/2006 – 4:35pm.
http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/jonas/032
“Dr. J.” is a nom-de-plume for Steven Jonas, MD, MPH, a Professor of Preventive Medicine at Stony Brook University (NY) a weekly Contributing Author for The Political Junkies (www.thepoliticaljunkies.net) and a Columnist for BuzzFlash.
