Democracy And Culture

"Democracy" conjures up equality, fairness, acceptance, tolerance, equal voting rights, sexual equality and more. Democracy is more than two lions and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch, because minority rights must be protected. But democracy also cannot be the unending politically-correct effort to accept everyone as equal. Democracy cannot be always bending over backwards to acknowledge that all cultures are equal.

I like western democracy. I like press freedom. I like reading uncensored books, seeing uncensored movies, dressing as I please, eating what I please, praying (or not) as I please. I am proud to be able to vote, to blog, to criticize my government, to belong to unpopular organizations, to demonstrate, travel freely – all the freedoms of living in a democratic country. I know there are legal restrictions. I know there are limits, otherwise there would be anarchy. I know I cannot shout “fire!” in a crowded theater. I know I have full civil rights, and I dream of the day when these rights are for everyone.

Why are we not all equal? Are not all cultures equal? Are not all political systems equal? The bitter truth is that they are not. “All men are created equal” and “All men are equal in the eyes of the law” are platitudes that should or could be true, but aren’t. (Remember George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’? “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others".) Everyone should be treated equally in the eyes of the law, but the rich and famous get better treatment.  Are all men created equal? Queen Elizabeth II may not think so, but I do. They just develop differently. It’s not a perfect world.

Democracy, often maligned, is still the corner-stone of western culture and government as we know it, a culture that is still not perfect, but getting there. Democracy is enshrined in the politics and policies of some of the greatest nations on earth.

The declared vision of Islam is death to the infidel, with sharia law eventually prevailing. Must we accept that as equal to our western codes of democracy, ethics and law? Must we accept the Mormon view that polygamy is okay? Must we accept that Orthodox Judaism treats women as second rate citizens, the property of their husbands? Must we accept that Hinduism dictates that a woman must be burnt on her late husband’s funeral pyre? Must the lamb accept the majority decision that lunch today is fresh lamb chops? No, no, and no.

I don’t want sharia law. I don’t think Islamic culture equals mine and I don’t want to apologize for not accepting their design of how I should live.

British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s controversial appeasement policy with Hitler didn’t work in 1938, and there’s no reason to think a similar policy now will shunt off sharia law. If we don’t stop now, look around, and see where we are heading (with our minds set on being politically correct), we may end up exactly where we are heading.

Save me from the pseudo-intellectual democracy that envelopes us in our quest for “equality”. Save me from the overburdened politically correct rhetoric.

Jonathan Danilowitz is a Contributing Writer for The Propagandist