Democracy and Independence Are Not a Panacea

Developing Nations Need a Long Period of Guided Democracy

Democracy and full Independence is not a panacea for struggling, underdeveloped countries. Democracy as an end result of a guided development program is a fantastic goal for any nation. It is my belief that the United States is, itself, still in the developmental stage.

Too many young and developing, or established but changing, countries seem to be in too much of a rush to get to what they see as the final stage of democratization. Perhaps history of North America is not much understood in other countries.

Clearly it took 200 years from the time of first settlements until those groups of colonies that formed in early America began to chafe at the control imposed by the rulers of England. It has been 230 years since Independence was won and "democracy" activated by the brilliant founding fathers of our nation.

I contend that the two hundred years preceding our Declaration of Independence and the debates that led to our Constitution are critical to the longevity, to date, of our experiment in Democracy. The point is that developing nations should not, because they can not successfully, jump from birth or decision to change their form of government, into a level or stage of democracy at the same point the United States is in.

Examples Pro and Con

Pro - Singapore Perhaps one of the cleanest, most modern, most racially integrated, countries, albeit small, in the world. Singapore has been a "guided democracy" since its forced formation in 1959. Now Singapore is a political wonder of the world. The country has no natural resources, not even fresh water, but it outshines all its neighbors by excelling technically and providing its neighbors things they seem unable to do by themselves.

Even citizens of Singapore will tell you. They have democracy but not a lot of freedom. Then they will tell you, thank God that it is so because they need a strong guiding hand as they learn how to walk the road to full representative Democracy.