>And, um, the South was not a democracy-- any system that systemically
>disenfranchises from 30-50% of its population does not qualify. Voting
>rights was always the key fight in the South-- the tragedy of this nation
>was that the Supreme Court in 1875 gutted the national voting rights laws
>that protected the black vote in the South; once the Supreme Court did
>that, it made the collapse of Reconstruction and the rise of Jim Crow a
juggernaut
>that corrupted this nation for a century.
The north, of course, disenfranchised a majority too (women).
I actually do believe in international solidarity and intervention in dealing with dictators and tyrants. I just don't think the U.S. military and elite do. A newly-minted US-backed 'democratic regime' in Iraq is much more likely to kill off people like us (the left, the democrats) than they are people like Saddam or even people like bin Laden because the left, and democracy in general, is actually a more significant threat to their profiteering. The Saddams and Noriegas, when they become noncompliant, are replaced by compliant versions of the same, not by democracy. Sans CIA intervention over the years, there would almost certainly be several socialist governments in the Middle East and there might be some goddam international solidarity around for progressive Iraqis to look to, but that's precisely why our gov't got rid of them. Look at Turkey, look at Iran, those are the great victories of the US's 'democratic' projects in the region. How much more of that kind of democracy can they take?
And speaking of the "Jim Crow juggernaut that corrupted this nation for a century" (well put) not only is the voting rights struggle here not over, it's heating up. I just saw the film the LA Indymedia Center made about the theft of the 2000 elections ("Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election" by Joan Sekler and Richard Perez--1 hr.) They did a fine job of exposing the Bush brothers premeditated plot to deliver Florida--I recommend it highly; they're working on a broadcast deal but you can get a copy through the website www.unprecendented.org
I called my congresswoman, Corinne Brown, about Iraq the other day and her aide said, 'let's put it this way,' and read me the first line of some recent statement saying (roughly) "Bush's request for a war in Iraq is a total sham just like Bush's presidency is a total sham." So much for the Republican dream of the new 'Solid South.'
Jenny Brown