Exporting Democracy: Not

Why is it that the United States military can conquer a country in days but it just can't manage to govern? Since Vietnam, the military has been stunningly efficient at accomplishing its combat missions; however, once the objective is taken, the task of governing—or better yet, getting out of the way so the country can self-govern—seems to become herculean.

The U.S., without fail, attempts to install a democracy. One would expect as much, and probably not tolerate any less, but in order for democracy to govern over a free people, the "people" are required to accept certain responsibilities. John Adams knew that our government is sufficient for a moral people but inadequate for any other. As we see corruption on our government flourish at all levels, how could we not expect corruption to be pervasive in newborn democracies?

Think about it. The U.S. establishes free and fair elections. The U.N. monitors the entire process. Citizens risk life and limb to vote and much of the world looks on in approval. Then the winners find themselves on speaking terms with the executive branch. Congress begins to appropriate inconceivable amounts of money for infrastructure and the elected officials straddle the money trail. As the As the money gets siphoned off, government officials get rich while the people who elected them continue to wallow in their same old ways of life—nothing changes at street level. After a while, things become obvious; we know they're corrupt, but we also know they are "duly elected". We would like to replace them. Things would get better if they were replaced, but we can't do it without being accused of pulling the strings of our puppet government.

So we continue to send funds. Our troops, as a result, find themselves in increased danger, because they represent the source of the money which is not helping the people but rather enriching the leaders. Finally, Americans get frustrated because we can't seem to install our form of government in the countries we conquer. We begin to call for an end, mainly because the Americans recognize a shakedown, and we recognize when a program is broken (as all of the government programs in America are currently broken).

This is a very dangerous pattern, but it seems to be repeating itself. The call to export democracy is virtuous and altruistic. What most U.S. presidents forget about trade (perhaps if they knew a little more our balance wouldn't be in the red) is that exports typically area a desired commodity by the country doing the importing. When it comes to America exporting democracy, it would seem our partners want the foreign aid but not the product of our trade.