You might think that replacing an unpopular, Islamist leader with a secular judge is a victory for democracy. It isn’t. In a functioning democracy, there is an orderly constitutional process for protesting and removing a leader. When someone is elected for a term of years, he should serve them out unless he resigns or is impeached. The popularity ratings of U.S. presidents regularly sink below 50 percent -- George W. Bush’s fell into the 20s -- but that doesn’t mean they should be removed from office. The president needs a majority only when elected, not at every subsequent moment. This applies to a president who is doing a bad job and even to a president who is violating the constitution. (Who then, by the way, should be removed by a constitutional process if at all possible.) What distinguishes constitutional democracy from mob rule is that orderly processes are followed. And what distinguishes it from autocracy is that the military doesn’t get to choose who rules. The Egyptian people as a whole are not getting rid of Mursi. The army is, with cover provided by the protesters who lost at the ballot box. Expect Autocracy
Posted on: Fri, 05 Jul 2013 03:49:18 +0000
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