"Democracy springs from the heart and soul of ordinary men with vision enough to understand that it is their only chance to self govern."
Well said! (It is also a most difficult form of governance to keep... and to 'get right'.)
Good article, thanks.
Your article's comments about the American Civil War are interesting, parenthetically, I was watching a history piece about the American Revolution the other day... and noticed that when the Brits took their army to the south they called on the slaves to rise up (promising them freedom... the British Empire abolished slavery far earlier then the US did).
I was struck by the thought that, if the Rebellion had not occurred until some decades later (perhaps if King George had not been on the scene), then an entirely different history might have unfolded, if manumission had been promoted better (or, at a more propitious time?)
"Islam is the most complete merger of politics and religion the world has seen since its inception, certainly more complete than, say, bushido Japan."
I don't know... Bushido seems about as complete a melding of religion and political power as one can imagine... except perhaps for the Catholic Church during it's heyday in the Middle Ages, the Papal States, Holy Roman Empire, etc.
"An historical, basic tenet of Islam, not just radicalized Islam, is that all human affairs of any kind must be under divine control. The separation of religion and politics that the West took centuries to develop is formally absent from Islam, the radical variety or not."
Correct. Islam missed out on a Reformation, which is what changed things in the West.
It has been noted before that only the later-day so-called 'Desert Religions' (Christianity and Islam) are vigorously expansionist... so, Reformation or no, they still have several commonalities when it comes to their conceptions of how to exercise Earthly power.
I think that one of the greatest enemies of individual and societal liberty is the concept of Theocracy. Theocracy and Democracy are polar opposites. |
