Ripon College Days

I'm not made of stone. President Bush's high-flown rhetoric in support of democracy, freedom and the end of tyranny is stirring, an invocation of principles that, on their own terms, transcend prosaic political concerns and unify every patriotic American, myself included. And the idea of supporting these principles across the world is, again on its own terms, a truly admirable and meaningful goal to guide American involvement in the world. Too bad, then, that the President and his administration can't live up to their words, as their years of mismanagement in Iraq illustrate all too clearly. Even worse that they're letting prosaic political concerns compel them to invoke principles, and align with leaders, they so eloquently claim to oppose.

Three weeks ago, in a U.N. committee, U.S. representatives successfully supported a proposal to deny a hearing on the petitions of two international gay-rights groups to participate in U.N. deliberations-and then another to reject their application altogether. The sponsor of these proposals? Iran. Cosponsors? China, Cuba, Zimbabwe and the Sudan, the latter three of which have been cited by the State Department for human rights violations specifically related to their treatment of homosexuals.

It's plenty offensive that the U.S. aligned itself with oppressive governments it is presumably dedicated to opposing (and perhaps deposing)-and against presumed democratic supporters in Europe and elsewhere. It's all the more offensive that in supporting those governments on this issue, they aligned themselves with contravention of the basic principle of individual rights; in Iran, in fact, homosexuality is punishable by death. And to top it off, the U.S. supported contravention of the democratic process, as well; in denying these groups a hearing-a move "virtually unprecedented" in U.N. deliberations-they denied them the right to state-and openly debate-their case for admission. All this from a self-proclaimed paragon of democracy.

One such action in the court of international opinion is problematic enough. But from the same group of leaders who has embraced the indefinite detention of American citizens such as Jose Padilla without trial and wiretapped American citizens without a warrant, against the law, without informing Congress, it's no isolated incident. This administration has repeatedly shown that their stated allegiance to democratic principle goes only so far as their own interests, only so far as their near-slavish adherence to their evangelical base or their equally slavish insistence on the near-infallible power of the commander-in-chief. Such actions would be odious from any administration; from one presumably devoted above all else to spreading democracy the world wide, it's dangerous to the very identity and credibility of the country.

If the Bushies are going to make this about prosaic political concerns, it's time for liberals to up the ante. We've struggled for years to articulate a contrasting vision for the Middle East, a critique that can reconcile administration's honorable goals with their gross incompetence in executing them without leaving them vulnerable to accusations of partisanship or sycophancy. Well, here's an opening: let's start defining what democracy is about. Let's start discussing how individual freedoms mean nothing if not possessed in equal measure by every American. Let's start discussing why minority rights are embedded in the very fabric of the Constitution. Let's start discussing how due process and open debate are the lifeblood of an open society, rather than principles the President can jettison to wiretap civilians or avoid through events filled with prescreened sympathizers.

If Republicans want to spend billions, a few thousand American lives and the brunt of America's military might spreading these principles throughout the world, it's imperative we hold them accountable for living up to them. And when they don't, as here, we should take the mantle from them and show why we're the true representatives of democratic principles, who support tolerance and freedom in deed as well as word. The President has done a great job of laying out the vision; let's show why we're the only party who can and will live up to it.

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