Editorial: Chocolate cake is for dessert

The notion that democracy is best for all times and for all circumstances feeds into an unhealthy obesity of trouble. A gang of bank robbers can vote on who will be their leader, who will drive the get-away car, and who will load the guns and blow open the vault.

Must their illegalities become appropriate and acceptable simply because there was an election? The one-dimensional evaluation of morality drawn with the simple stroke of the democracy brush is a dangerous picture. And it is one that is all too often promoted by our American flag waving leaders.

There is a sense that when given the multiple choices of what should be done, the answer always has to be D: Democracy. This is partly because of the way it nobly sounds and partly because of a fear of the options. But the alternative does not have to be A: Anarchy, B: Belligerence or C: Communism either. When in doubt we should check off E: Educate. Unfortunately teaching and learning takes effort and energy (E and E).

Who are these candidates representing the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Palestinian Authority, al-Qa’ida, the Taliban, the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Fatah, the Abu Nidal Organization, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, and the Abu Sayyaf Group?

Maybe they are not electable and shouldn’t be on the slate, but rather need to be E: Eradicated, Expelled, Expunged, Expired, and Extricated. But the educating of an unbiased world history is not a well-traded commodity in the global marketplace. The masses have an absurd need for an immediate evaluation as to whom is the supposed underdog. Their usual bleeding heart observation is quickly noted and then bingo… a vote is required. And don’t forget to send out Jimmy Carter to make sure the stained blue fingers of the voters are counted and discolored with fairness and equity.

Once the great election saga has ceased and the winner is proclaimed then the ‘terrorist’ label is wiped clean. How can he be a murderer of women and children, he was elected as part of a democracy? And so all become betwixt and befuddled when faced with the Muslim Brotherhood and with Hamas. The universal standards of “We will not negotiate with terrorists!” get filed in a cabinet drawer labeled “But they were elected!” The once band of bloodthirsty brothers is now invited to perform and sing at our wedding. Somehow the only qualification for garnering the nomenclature of democracy is the capability of erecting a voting booth.

What further exasperates the boiling caldron of nasty international relations is our comfort level that dictates with whom we fight. You show me an established nation with a cross-eyed monarch, then bye-bye and blow him to bits. But we are gun shy when it comes to a blindly inhumane, international monster without a flag. In fact we’ll assist him with his stump speech. If only the enemy in this war against terror had a seat at the UN, our life would be easier.

We would then invade and beat him up. The terrorist chair is not represented in the General Assembly, although there are numerous backsides warming up a place for a few of them to sit and hang their flags.

Even if we are unwilling to decimate the terrorists’ very existence, at the very least we shouldn’t push for their democratization leading to their legitimization. How ironic it is that this feigned thrust for the almighty democracy spits in the face of Israel who continues to be the only democracy surrounded by vipers, thugs and rogue nations.

Israel, like the United States, lived through a process before reaching its first election. An appetizer of a long deep-rooted history of human justice was ordered. The entrée filled with values and equitable standards was savored stemming from a recipe of morality. And then and only then was the tray presented with the choice of chocolate cake. Democracy. Those who prematurely rush to consume the rich dessert as their entire stable of sustenance are doomed to be unhealthy… and they get sick over everyone around them.