I would like to add a few thoughts to the excellent letter by Jim Miles Jan. 6.
Since the Second World War, there has been a seemingly obsessive drive on the part of Western nations, most particularly the U.S., to democratize the rest of the world.
It seems that there is a belief that all of the world’s ills can be transformed by simply teaching other countries that they will be better off if they change to our way of doing things.
This is perhaps the worst solution in most cases.
In fact, there is evidence to prove that when these countries, such as Guatemala, Cuba, and Iran, after internal revolutions, have tried to shift into a democratic system, they soon learned that in doing things for themselves, they gain self-respect, and then they seem to want to run their own economy their own way, by nationalizing the companies of those who have been exploiting them all along (usually either the U.S. or Britain.).
Historically, when that happened, the U.S. or Britain was quick to either re-install a despotic form of government that would better suit their interests, as they did in Guatemala and Iran, or isolate and attempt to starve out those who refuse to do things their way, like Cuba.
In the majority of countries where democracy is in operation, there is still a great deal of restlessness, because elected officials soon forget why they ran in the first place, and countries like Russia, for example, quietly slide back into a form of despotism, which in some cases works very well.
The saddest thing that has happened for me is the destruction of Syria. When I was working there with the United Nations, the country was working quite efficiently under very despotic leadership, but a government that saw to it that no one went hungry, everyone had good medical care, and free education.
In my experience, the Syrians were the nicest and happiest people I had ever met. I sincerely hope that many thousands of them will find good homes here in Canada.
Gregory A. Milne
Vernon