Prosperity and Democracy.
Reader comment on item: Will Palestinian Prosperity End the Arab-Israeli Conflict?

Submitted by Robert Lynn (Canada), Dec 31, 2005 at 21:06

In my layman's reading of history the idea that prosperity precedes democracy gradually formed in my mind and I now believe that this is indeed the case. The problem in applying this theory to the so-called Arab-Israeli Conflict is that I believe this is a process that occurs over several hundreds of years if not thousands of years with no guaranty of success.

Koch-Weser, Friedman, and Wolfensohn I believe are espousing the typical leftist view of victimization and the ability of government programs to immediately right any perceived wrongs. One does not have to look far to ascertain that this "push button" view of history has not worked anywhere. I wonder if this thinking is a relic of the Industrial Revolution? There seems to be no successful substitution to the hard grind of history.

In Canada we have "Indian Reserves". They are bottomless money pits and they might serve as a useful analogy. As long as the free money rolls in nothing will change and the only thing the government programs do is to preserve the status quo. Most reserves are controlled by a small cadre of "family gangs" leaving most residents disenfranchised and embittered. The only other requirement is to find someone to blame while the leadership continues to gorge themselves. Hence the refrain, "This is stolen land, this is Indian land". In fact, we have one idiot Saskatchewan native leader David Ahenakew, who even blamed the Jews. The situation in Canada seems to be the PA in a microcosm.

In conclusion, I do believe that prosperity precedes democracy but that it is something that Arabs must accomplish themselves. The Oslo Accords utterly stopped this process and the ensuing chaos should serve as a warning to do-gooders and other useful idiots not to interfere in the development of this pre-modern society (primitive). In the meantime, only a military solution will set the conditions where development is once again possible.

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