Secularism not Democracy

Submitted by John Anonymous Smith (United States), Mar 1, 2006 at 17:10

It appears many people fail to see that democracy is not what Iraq needs at the moment. What it needs is a secularization of its society which ironically was achieved only under the brutal rule of Saddam Hussein.

There are many countries around the world that are not democratic and yet have civil, secular and mostly stable societies. Examples like China, Singapore, Bhutan come readily to mind. Bhutan, one of the most peaceful and civilized countries on earth decided last year that they did not need a democracy and were fine with their king ruling over them.

The converse is also true, countries that have democracies are often times uncivilized and radical. There are countless examples in Africa and what happened in Palestine last month is a useful reminder that democracy can and will often produce highly undesirable results. Whoever said that "In a democracy people only get what they deserve" knew what he was talking about. It is of course questionable whether secularizing any country like Iraq is even possible.

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