The Failure of the Arab Spring and Other Delusions of Spreading Democracy

David Goldman discusses the catastrophe by consensus that marks our Middle-Eastern policy, headed by coalition of the delusioned that supported overthrowing Mubarak in Egypt, destroying Libya, and wants to intervene in Syria, all based on the irrational belief that, at their core, everyone is an American and free elections can fix everything. Best line:

Large portions of the Arab world have languished so long in backwardness that they are beyond repair. After the dust of the popular revolts dissipated, we are left with banana republics, but without the bananas.

Partly I blame the myth making behind the formation of America--that America rose, wholly formed, from the cruel tyranny of the British monarchy.  Those who believe that we can freely export "democracy" forget the centuries old traditions that underlay our society and government: the democracy of Athens, the Republic of Rome, Anglo-Saxon traditions, the Magna Carta, the fact that the American colonies were largely self-governed. It is no accident that the most stable democratic nations are those birthed by the British, or that other nations struggle with "democracy" because the foundations have not been properly laid.