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Most
Americans follow our political leaders
as they chant their lead line in our international
relations "creating democracies all over
the world." Under this noble banner we
send our sons and daughters to war and
spend our treasurer down to dangerously
low levels. But, are we really ready to
accept the majority of the world's peoples
living under Democracy? What do the political
insiders know that they haven't told us
about a world "safe for Democracy?" Is
it possible that none of us really want
Democracy worldwide?" In 1970 Salvador
Allende was elected President of Chile
in an overwhelming landslide. President
Nixon used our CIA and spent millions
of dollars, working with the military
to over-throw Allende; Mr. Allende's weakness?
He was a Socialist. With our approval,
on September 11, 1973 Augusto Pinochet
was made President by the army and set
out to murder 135.000 of the poor who
had backed the elected President.
In
1990 Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide became
the first democratically elected President
of Haiti with 87% of the popular vote.
Within eighteen months the rich and powerful
used the Army to put him out of office.
Pres. Bush (I) turned his back and blessed
the event. Three years later, under pressure
from the OAS, President Clinton returned
Aristide to office. In true democratic
order at the end of his term in 1995 he
stepped down.
After
the required stand down (five years) Aristide
ran again and won in 2000. Our response?
The President cut aid to Haiti, diverting
the $33,000,000 for water projects to
the International Republican Institute
to destroy Aristide's presidency. Finally,
Bush sent 200-armed thugs into the country
to rip it apart and subsequently we
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kidnapped
the President and his wife on February
29, 2004. His crime - he represented the
poor, raised the minimum from 86¢ a DAY
to $1.56 a day, disbanded the army that
had preyed on the poor for decades, ended
the moonshine trade and opened a medical
school to train Doctors and Nurses.
Do
we really want democracy? Are we willing
to accept the governments other select?
Two-thirds of the world's population is
poor. Only in the west is there a significant
middle class. When democracy comes to
these nations they will ALWAYS elect a
government familiar to them. These governments
may often be Islamic or Socialist in character;
both scare American government and business
types to death. Why? Because governments
elected by the poor will raise the standard
of living for the poor and there goes
our cheap labor. The American people are
just as afraid because governments elected
by the poor will raise the standard of
living for the poor and there goes our
cheap goods.
So
there it is, the dilemma. And it's not
only on the shoulders of the big guys
but on all of our shoulders. Are we the
most powerful people on earth willing
to share this planet equally with others?
Will we be willing to pay more, thus have
less, to ensure all have those "inalienable
rights" of which we speak. Or, will we
continue to bully the rest of our world
into submitting to our overseeing.
If we are willing to allow the rest of the world to live under Democracy
we must begin to act like it. If not,
we must stop talking about it. Democracy:
To Be or Not To Be, that IS The Question,
and we all must answer it.
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