One Dogmatic Size Does Not Fit All Systems

Long proclaiming itself as the architype of “democracy” and “human rights,” the U.S. is used to reprimanding other countries by wielding the baton of said concepts. However, the proof is in the political pudding: its so-called democracy and human rights are no more than dogmatic tools it employs to deceive its own population and bully others outside American borders. A typical expression of double standards.

A separation of powers seems to be democracy, but the U.S. regime is permanently dominated by two parties, namely the Democrats and the Republicans. The so-called division of powers means to split the country’s power between them. They are either presidents or congressmen or judges. No matter which party controls the government, those occupying these posts are spokespeople for a small fraction of the most powerful capitalists and consortiums. Even the impeachment of a certain president was just a tussle between both parties, having nothing to do with democracy.

American elections are hailed as the core of the nation’s democracy, but in essence, they’re bordering on a reality show display of scripted ridicule. This kind of election is manipulated by capital. Simply put, in this manner, every four years, American capital conglomerates make new decisions on which fraction of the vested interests within the ruling class should come out to take the reins.

The basic gauge for democracy is whether the people are involved in national governance and whether their demands are met. If the public is only awakened when their votes are needed and sent back into dormancy after the objective has been attained, they are not living in real democracy, as real democracy will give them the right to express themselves even after the elections, instead of just serving them a plate of empty and alluring promises.

Ethnic and racial minorities are even farther away from the benefits of democracy and human rights. To white supremacists, black lives don’t matter, while native Americans, too, endured the centuries-long cruelty of genocide under U.S. “democracy” and “human rights.”

Before white colonists set foot on the North American continent 400 years ago, the native American population reached 10 million. In the 19th century, U.S. troops massacred and ousted these natives as part of the Westward Movement, occupying their homes and looting their resources. By the year 1900, there were only 250,000 native Americans left in the U.S.

This March, Deb Haaland became the first native American to lead a cabinet agency, as Secretary of the Interior. However, this historic event will not change the reality that native Americans are widely discriminated against and struggle with poverty. At most, her appointment can be bragged as an act of meeting the “diversity” quota on behalf of the Joe Biden administration. The poverty ratio among this U.S. minority is the highest among all ethnic groups residing in the country. And cultural extinction aside, native Americans also have the shortest life expectancy among all racial clusters in the nation.

And how about the American democracy and “human rights” cause outside of its borders? The U.S. has always attempted to impose its own “democratic” framework on other countries through the “color revolution,” regime changes and even direct military interventions. It embraces the policy of “America First,” and practices hegemony and unilateralism, while at the same time shirking away from United Nations rules and regulations and international laws, seeking to replace international norms with its own clique-devised rules. Hegemony under the pretext of democracy can only exacerbate disintegration and confrontation, further triggering turmoil.

All nations are entitled to democracy. Whether a state is democratic or not should not be judged by a small number of foreigners, but by its own populace. A certain country needs a certain democratic mode that best befits its individual conditions and consequently, to measure whether a country is democratic or not using a single standard or mode goes against the very nature of the concept. Refusing to admit the diversity of democracy and always claiming its own version simply boils down to the following: the epitome of autocracy.

Source: Beijing Review