Hugo's Call For Democracy

As everyone focused on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's fiery rhetoric about George Bush yesterday, the media has failed to properly explain the rest of what Chavez was advocating for the United Nations. Aside from his anti-Bush ravings, the focus of Chavez's speech was a call to the United Nations to be more democratic. Chavez advocated the removal of the veto power of permanent members of the UN security council, saying such power by the five permanent members is undemocratic. He wants to eventually see all countries within the United Nations as having equal footing, with an equal vote on par with even the World's largest superpowers. Sounds like Democracy to me. So why can't the United Nations become a truly Democratic system for the World to discuss and set policy? Because Democracy can be extremely dangerous.

Democracy is not for everyone. Don't get me wrong, I believe that it is by far the greatest form of government that exists today, but it's survival greatly depends on the character of it's people. I believe in freedom for all people, but I know that freedom for some people would lead to the oppression of others. The founders of our country knew well that their republic would always run the risk of becoming a vehicle of oppression. The greatest debates by the founding fathers over our Constitution was how to delicately balance power to prevent this. That is why the Legislature, even though the most Democratic branch of our government, does not hold all of the power. The framers feared the tyranny of the majority as much as they did oppression from a King. Robert Heinlein once wrote that political authority is in it's barest form force. The converse of authority being responsibility. Responsibility when using political force is what is required by the people in order for Democracy to flourish. The individuals must place the welfare of the group ahead of their own welfare. Which leads us back to the United Nations. Can we trust the United Nations and it's member states to practice responsibility when wielding the political force of Democracy? The majority of the United Nations members are not even from Democratically elected governments. To expect them to want Democracy for anything other than to increase their own power in the World body is naive. To give it to them, would be irresponsible of us...