Ryan Streeter
The Wall Street Journal editors got it right today (as they often do) when they wrote that we are witnessing a "democracy recession" around the world. The timing is pretty bad for such a recession, given that those who can influence events - namely, us Americans and our western allies - are too preoccupied with domestic affairs to focus on the problem. The editors write:
Preoccupied with domestic matters, the U.S. public has little desire for democratic evangelism. But it remains true that democracies are usually better allies and that authoritarians cause more global mayhem. The global democracy recession is bad for U.S. interests, and President Obama and his Secretary of State should be looking for ways to help reverse it.
Their editorial is backed up not just by examples they supply of how personal and political freedoms are in retreat in a number of countries, but also by Freedom House's 2010 Freedom Around the World report, which reported that democracy was in its worst shape globally since 1995.
The editors are right to pressure Obama and his administration. They hold the responsibility for extending America's will throughout the world. But it's also worth asking where Republicans are on this issue, since Congress has an important role to play. Many of them can rotely recite the line about how democratic decline fosters terrorism, which in turn hurts American interests.
But are any actively promoting a set of ideas such as stepping up conditionality in aid and using trade agreements as levers of political reform? The GOP's Pledge only uses the word "democracy" once in regards to America's role in the world, and it's in the section on security which has mainly to with border protection and keeping terrorists out of the country. In effect, the Pledge completely avoids this issue - a rebuke of the Bush years that is deafening in its silence.
But if we think overcoming a bad recession is hard enough in itself, think of how hard it will be as deteriorating regimes put further strains on our business and trade globally. I'm not too confident that we have GOP leaders thinking about this. If they are, it must be in a dark corner somewhere.
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