The West, and particularly, the U.S. are extremely loud when it comes to defending their ‘democratic’ systems. Iran’s regime is, in their opinion, the best example of an oppressive, non-democratic system, standing in stark contrast to the ‘democracies’ of the U.S. and allies.
Yet, as time goes by, and thanks particularly to George W. Bush, it is becoming more and more clear that this democracy is little more than illusion. The current president of the United States was elected by a very marginal majority in his both terms, and is constantly being criticized by other popularly-elected wings of the state, as well as the public and intellectuals. Yet, he has shown that his power is almost indefinite and unreachable: he can easily veto any legislation by the Congress and the Senate that he doesn’t like, he is the Commander-in-Chief, and more recently, he has shown that he can reverse a court’s verdict by pardoning one of his servants, Lewis Libby. What’s more, he has several intelligence agencies under his control and can manipulate one with the other; he also gets all the support typically given to the president in times of war, thereby, opening places like Guantanamo Bay and undermining justice and human rights in the name of the war on terror (the so-called “state of exception“).
Makes you wonder what really makes the Supreme Leader of Iran different from the President of the U.S. in terms of the concentration of power, and what distinguishes between the democratic republic of America and the oppressive Islamic Republic of Iran…
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Politics, Thoughts, Freedom of Expression, Iran, Nuclear, Middle East, Oil, War on Iran, Bush, Ahmadinejad, Larijani, Iranian Society, Media, U.S. Congress, Islamic Revolution, Persian Gulf, UK, Blair, Britain, Mullahs, CIA, Guantanamo
4 responses so far ↓
Mark // July 21, 2007 at 9:52 am
Well I disagree, Iran has a limited democracy at best, George Bush was elected by a majority albeit a small one, and can be voted out of office by the electorate, also the USA sets limits on how long a President may stay in office, two terms, can the people of Iran vote out the supreme leader? is there a limit to how long he can stay in power? the answer is of course no and no, that my friend is a very limited democracy indeed.
Jeanna // July 23, 2007 at 10:27 am
“”"the USA sets limits on how long a President may stay in office, two terms,”"”
Indeed! But there apparently seem to be no limits, what such a megalomaniac Dubya-Cheney-commanders-in-chief and their staff of downright liers and war-criminals are performing during these two terms! With his paranoic “War against terror” but in fact terror. Not even the democratic instrument “Impeachment” is working. In this “best of all democracies” where people are “informed”, that is to say neurotocized and kept in constant “useful” panic by Fox-News and alikes.
Best whishes to “God’s own country” and this land of the allegedly free. May God help this land and other countries being in the lunatic focus of these selfdeclared exporters of democracy, freedom and stability. What an arrogancy and cynic attitude!
Mark // July 23, 2007 at 7:22 pm
Well I wouldn’t say the U.S has the worlds best democracy, but it’s better than no democracy at all. And as an aside I most certainly do not support U.S foreign policy.
A.J. // September 18, 2007 at 2:17 am
If given the choice of living in the USA or Iran, I think a majority of people would choose the USA.