Fraters Libertas

Democracy Around the World

As any reasonably competent dictator will tell you, self governance by the people is a messy, distasteful proposition. I think it was Winston Churchill who famously said "Democracy is the worst form of government .........." and no doubt he had the types of stories listed below in mind. Each is from the Sunday April 4 edition of the New York Times. Yes, I'm still reading a 2 week old copy of the news. Sorry about my methodical pace folks, but I got caught up reading "Sexual Stories as Resistance Narratives in Women’s Sports: Reconceptualizing Identity Performance” and the days and weeks just started to blur together.

First, from Brazil, the government of left wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is embroiled in a widening corruption scandal surrounding campaign contributions from illegal gambling interests. A government investigation into irregularities produced a perfunctory, dismissive report supposedly exonerating high government officials. But as more and more damning evidence is uncovered, the press and people are becoming increasingly skeptical and bold in their accusations. It all culminated in a press conference this week with Jose Dirceau, a key aid to President da Silva:

Mr. Dirceu said recently that as far as he was concerned, the [corruption] matter was "a closed case," because the investigation concluded that "this government doesn't steal or allow stealing." When reporters were not satisfied with that answer and continued to press him, he lashed out, calling them "an ill-bred and uncivilized pack of bad actors."

So it appears Mr. Dirceu isn’t used to facing an independent, antagonistic, frothing press corps. Either that or perhaps the leading Brazilian dailies have actually hired the entire cast of Dharma & Greg.

Then way over in South Korea, more scandal. President Roh Moo Hyun was recently impeached by the National Assembly for charges of illegal campaigning (not sure what tricks he was up to, but I think it had something to do with Willie Horton). As a result, the rule of the liberal Uri party has been suspended until the Korean version of the Supreme Court decides whether or not to ratify the impeachment. It all sounds very somber and officious. However, it appears the proceedings didn’t go exactly how the the Korean civics textbooks describe (which I’m planning to start reading after I get through last week’s Sunday NYT):

Park Kwan Yong, the conservative speaker of the National Assembly, who ducked flying shoes to conduct the impeachment vote on March 12, conceded in an interview on Wednesday in Seoul that "the Uri Party could become the largest party in the next National Assembly."

There's only one way to describe a culture that accepts throwing one's shoes in rage as acceptable political discourse. Perfect. And I think we can now offer our diplomats some advice for talking a certain North Korean dictator out of his nukes. Throw your damn shoes at him, then maybe he'll take you seriously.