IRAQ: FROM GUNBOAT DIPLOMACY TO GUNPOINT DEMOCRACY

By Congressman Jesse L. Jackson, Jr.

April 8, 2003

\"Exporting democracy\" is as American as apple pie. President George W.
Bush feels divinely \"called\" to convert other countries\' governments
from oppressive regimes to democratically free governments. He is
freeing Iraq through \"gunboat diplomacy,\" then proposes to govern it
with gunpoint democracy. But what kind of democracy is Bush proposing to
export?

After World War II, America maintained and increased its military
strength fearing communism. President Reagan epitomized this fear. He
called the Soviet Union \"an evil empire\...behind all the trouble spots
in the world,\" including in Africa, South and Central America, the
Caribbean.

This Reagan doctrine - a vastly expanded version of Theodore
Roosevelt\'s gunboat diplomacy, committed to intervene against any
government Reagan disapproved of. Inevitably, the Reagan doctrine led to
contempt for international law. For example, Mr. Reagan withdrew the
U.S. from the World Court after we unilaterally mined the harbors of
Nicaragua - spurning world opinion and our allies objections. The Reagan
administration was shrouded in secrecy and deception to minimize
resistance from the American people or constraints from Congress. Today,
Bush\'s government and foreign policy are modeled after Reagan\'s.

After we win the war, President Bush will argue that the Iraqi people
have been liberated and democracy is on its way to Iraq! But what kind
of democracy? Who will enjoy the greatest freedom? The Iraqi people? Or
Bush\'s \"friends\" from the private sector?

The word democracy is comprised of two Greek words, demos (people) and
kratos (strength or power). It means \"we the people\" have the power to
create the government and laws under which we shall live. Democracy has
a second premise, that all men and women are created equal under the
law.

Ideally, a truly democratic government should provide its people with
the right to vote; a good education; quality health care; affordable
housing; a safe environment; equal opportunity for all; fair taxes; and
meaningful work. Mr. Bush seems to have some sense of this. After all,
within a year he wants Iraq to have 6,000 rehabilitated schools with new
curricula, as well basic health care for every citizen---including 100
new hospitals.

Unfortunately, Bush does not seem to have that understanding of
democracy when it comes to the folks here at home. Reagan didn't either.
They have an anti-democratic philosophy of government! Indeed, Reagan
said about our own democracy, \"Government is not the solution.
Government is the problem.\"

This President believes the market alone can fix an economy. For him,
the only truly important role for government is national defense.
That\'s why he fights for less and smaller government for domestic
programs; promotes supply-side economics; pushes tax cuts for the rich
and big corporations (in times of peace and war); and under-funds his
own legislative priority, the \"No Child Left Behind Act.\" To
re-enforce this conservative philosophy, he appoints federal judges with
similar conservative anti-government ideology, who interpret the law and
the Constitution to favor market forces over human rights and civil
liberties - and limit the reach and effectiveness of government.

President Bush knows that America\'s democratic government cannot
guarantee a fair distribution of its promises to all of its citizens
without regulation and specific rights enumerated in our Constitution.
But none - not one - of the eight \"rights\" listed above as democratic
ideals are in the U.S. Constitution - not even the affirmative right to
vote (Bush v. Gore). In America, these rights are not constitutional
rights, and not human rights. They are state rights.

For years, anti-federal, pro-states\' rights conservatives have used
their control over government to fight for land rights, oil rights,
natural resource rights, financial and business rights at home and
overseas. But tragically, our \"democratic government of the people\"
leaves 45 million Americans without health insurance. Everyone wants
quality health care, but our democracy isn\'t delivering it. Still, Bush
wrongly believes the private sector should and will provide it.

Without affirmative new rights in our own Constitution, our democracy
cannot live up to its promise that \"all men (and women) are created
equal in America, let alone achieve such lofty promises elsewhere.

Yet, in Iraq, the President is trying to impose a U.S.-led outside-in,
top-down \"democracy\" to match his top-down, trickle-down economics.
But remember, our democracy, was born through a bottom-up American
revolution of values that led to a Declaration of Independence, a
revolutionary war, and ultimately a Constitution. Its genesis was the
opposite of gunpoint democracy!

Unlike Lincoln, President Bush is trying to build a more perfect world
before he builds a more perfect Union. But, like Lincoln, we should be
trying to complete \"the great task remaining before us\" in our own
democracy, even as we seek - alongside others - to build a more perfect,
humane and truly democratic world.

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