Democracy or Freedom?

This was a Rule 5 Saturday post from The Classical Liberal blog and is worth your time. 

 

Democracy leads to slavery, and I can see how this may be a very valid point.

When a country's population rebels and overthrows the government that was in power, 'free elections' are one of the desired results. What we perceive as free elections here is not the same as it is in most other countries. The Arab Spring or winter in my opinion, has resulted in a domino effect of radical Islam and sharia law spreading across the Middle East. The Muslim Brotherhood is NOT an organization that brings 'freedom' that is compatible or works with our Constitution or Western civilization. 

 

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Democracy with Erica Durance

 "All the freedoms that modern Americans enjoy (or used to enjoy) – private property, freedom of movement, freedom of speech, independent courts, limited powers of the rulers – were established by the Founding Fathers after the American revolution (in part building on British classical-liberal traditions). This was before the advent of democracy as we know it today. And this is the same in other western countries. First came individual freedom, only later came the national democratic state."

 

 People around the world are fighting autocratic regimes in the name of freedom and democracy. They are right to fight for freedom, but wrong to fight for democracy. Libertarians should try to make it clear to them that the democratic path will not lead to freedom, but to slavery.

 

 

Most libertarians no doubt sympathize with the courageous protests against authoritarian regimes by ordinary people all over the world. Unlike neoconservatives or liberals, libertarians are not worried when protesters threaten the "stability" of some US-backed client state. They have always warned that supporting dictatorships leads to unwelcome "blowback", since oppressed people who revolt usually turn not only against their oppressors, but against their western backers as well. Post World War Two history is full of examples of this.

But what are libertarians to think of the fact that those protesters are usually fighting for (more) democracy? For it cannot be denied that dissidents in authoritarian countries, like Russia, China, Egypt, Tunisia, and the Persian Gulf States, demand democracy ("free elections") above all. Indeed, the first of the modern protesters, in Tiananmen Square in 1989, were known as the '89 Democracy Movement. Continue reading.