Two Things
Reader comment on item: Israeli Leftists Plead for U.S. Pressure on Their Government

Submitted by Sm (United States), Dec 27, 2007 at 15:08

Mr. Pipes,

1. It is NOT undemocratic to have citizens petition the powers that be to secure reforms within the state. One could argue that it is the essence of a democracy.

2. Intellectuals in other countries would not behave in this manner because most countries do not share the special relationship that Israel and the United States have. The poets were justified because they did the most reasonable thing their conscience permitted them to do.

I agree with you on many issues—especially our controversial views on Islam, which unfortunately separate us from most other thinking people today.

But I thought this inability to understand the opposition was unreasonable of you.

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Daniel Pipes replies:

"It is NOT undemocratic to have citizens petition the powers that be to secure reforms within the state. One could argue that it is the essence of a democracy."

You fail to win the policies you wish for at the ballot box, so you petition other states to impose those policies on your government? Sounds highly un-democratic to me.