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As the champion of democracy, the great US of A, embarks upon yet another bombing run on a Muslim country, it is time to take a closer look at the nature of the beast.
If this latest campaign is not riding on the back of gargantuan lies as usual, then ostensibly it must be to ‘free’ Syrian citizenry from the ‘clutches of a ruthless dictator’ aka Bashar al Asad, in a bid to bring them democracy. A bit of a focus is thus needed at the democratic credentials of this great ‘liberator’ itself.
Granted that we in the Muslim countries have not much idea of the fruits of democracy, having been perpetually ruled by kings, despots, generals, tyrants, autocrats and dictators of all hues. Granted too the fact that no democracy is perfect and at any given time it is either getting better or getting worse, yet the bombing American democracy is a wholly fallacious one. Fallacious because despite calling itself “the champion of democracy”, internally, the U.S. has hardly ever had a direct democracy where American people determine American policy, the true essence of democracy, and externally, it has a long and sordid record of closely coddling mambas like Pol Pots, Pinochets, Marcoses and Zias of the yore.
The world can clearly see Uncle Sam’s ongoing experiments in Afghanistan and the Middle East roll in dust slowly but surely.
The immoral alliance that the current incumbent in the White House and his predecessors have been having with dictators the world over runs exactly counter to the false pledges of democracy to their subjects. For the simple reason that those who cosset ruling tyrants cannot advocate for themselves the ironic privilege of bringing democracy to the ones oppressed by their friends.
The world can clearly see Uncle Sam’s ongoing experiments in Afghanistan and the Middle East roll in dust slowly but surely. Its ally in Pakistan, like most other such friends, is left to look on with stunning disbelief at the shifting sands of its alliance with America. If the American vision of democracy bore even a scrap of resemblance to the original idea, her stooges in Pakistan-like countries would have been elevated to prophet hood by the innocent masses. They are instead being remembered as villains. The world can see that for us at least, American democracy has boiled down to nothing more than that of a lynch mob who vote on the fate of their victims even as the rope is being readied to carry out the inevitable verdict.
With the justification of a popular mandate, a third-rate politician has been given the license to squander resources and bringing chaos into the world without the fear of being held accountable for it.
Internally, corporate corruption of American politicians and government has shredded to bits whatever semblance of democracy America was left with. What it has essentially boiled down to presently is the fact that instead of having democracy in the decision making institutions of America, it is rather the fine art of corporate corruption that now stands democratized and institutionalized — with all now having a chance at equal opportunity corruption. All it takes is money. Corporate corruption in America is now at a stage where it has become a bipartite, open, and legal practice with Americans finally coming to accept it as a status quo, an integral part of a dollar-driven, cheating culture.
It is now plain for all to see that misrepresentative government and corporatism has oppressed American citizenry to the extent that their democracy has become nothing more than a corporate theocracy, a fascist feudal state in which “the serfs” serve the corporate state as voiceless workers, ravenous consumers, docile citizens and pliant subjects.
Despite the fact that for all Uncle Sam’s internal and foreign misadventures, from social issues to the current bombing run, and the support of American masses having decidedly moved from a trusting to a distrusting majority, the leviathan presses on stubbornly. There seems to be not one single institution in that “mother of all democracies” that can help loosen the death-like grip of the yellow fangs of successive American administrations from the jugular of its unfortunate victims.
Contrary to its democratic plumage, the incumbent President’s own party’s strategy is now out in the open. And that is a Republican Party that runs the United States and a United States that runs the world. Though it fares only marginally better, the severely mauled, but still breathing, democratic opposition has so far miserably failed to nip in the bud this wicked vision of a one-party global empire.
In the not very distant past the Republican party has had real laws passed at home that have torn bomb-size holes in the Bill of Rights, set into motion an actual shift of American judiciary toward the radical right and has so fused American governments with corporations, the military, portions of the media and a hugely expanded secret police apparatus that now it scares the living daylights out of common Americans.
American democracy has actually translated itself into vesting the incredible amount of the power of the President of United States into a mediocrity like the incumbent President with disastrous results for America and the world at large. In-your-face ordinariness has now become the rule and unlimited irresponsibility one of the privileges associated with his kind of totalitarian democracy. With the justification of a popular mandate, a third-rate politician has been given the license to squander resources and bringing chaos into the world without the fear of being held accountable for it.
And oh…… happy bombing, America.
About the Author:
Anwaar Hussain is an ex F-16 fighter pilot from Pakistan Air Force. A Masters in Defense and Strategic Studies from Quaid-e-Azam University of Islamabad. He now resides in Canada. He started writing as a hobby some years back and has, since then, published a series of articles in The Pakistan Tribune, The Baltimore Chronicle, Defense Journal and a host of other prestigious publications and web portals. Other than international affairs, Anwaar Hussain has written extensively on religious and political issues that plague Pakistan.The reason for taking up the pen, in his own words, is, “For years I had been watching lies being peddled as truths in the name of God, king or country. I always felt that truth needed no crutches for it has neither a religion nor a nationality. It owes its loyalty only to its own unadulterated self. May the truth be our companion.” He can be contacted at airdance@outlook.com
