O. G. Pamp of Tweed, Ontario, writes in the December 30 issue of NOW Toronto:

RE To Send or Not To Send (NOW, December 9-15). Canada should not act as a gofer for American-imposed elections in Iraq, which at best would be an obscene joke. Neither Iraq nor Afghanistan needs democracy, but peace, and that can never occur until the American invaders leave.

Let's leave aside the wrong characterization of the election as "an obscene joke". To be fair, no one in December really knew how things would work out. Of course, lefties would do themselves a favour by leaving themselves a bit of wriggle room, instead of speaking in absolutes ("at best"? You sure about that? No chance whatsoever that it might work out OK?)

What I found most interesting was the bit about democracy versus peace. "Neither Iraq nor Afghanistan needs democracy, but peace." Maybe a recap of non-democratic regimes on this planet is in order.

North Korea - not at peace. Iran — not at peace. Sudan — not at peace. Myanmar — not at peace. Syria — not at peace. Saudi Arabia — not at peace. Cuba — not at peace.

The list goes on. In each case, these non-democratic countries could hardly be considered at peace. They are either at war with their neighbours, or at war with themselves. Even the ones that are relatively quiet, like Saudi Arabia or Cuba, are rife with discrimination and government abuse of their citizens.

O. G. Pamp might have the formula for peace without democracy. Nice trick if you can pull it off. My read of history and current events suggests that whenever you form a society in which the people are ruled by those who do not subject themselves to the judgment of those same people, whatever peace you might have is false. The government-for-life inevitably begins to see the body of citizens as potential threats to its power. Potential enemies that must be tracked, controlled, turned against each other, and if necessary, punished.

I'm not being deep. That sort of thing I leave to the philosophers. From the ancient Greeks, who knew a thing or two about democracy:

A tyrant is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader. Plato

Doesn't sound too peaceful. But leave it to the Romans to be more blunt about it:

A bad peace is even worse than war. Tacitus

Finally, a quote from a man who fought for both democracy and peace:

True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice. Martin Luther King

Too bad Dr. King is no longer with us to help us against the "wise" O. C. Pamps of this world.