The GOP's passion for "democracy" in the Middle East has been on full display and in overdrive of late. Republican leaders have called for unqualified support for Iranian demonstrators, condemned the Iranian regime, and castigated President Obama for not speaking out more forcefully.
Beating the drums for democracy can be inspiring, but in international affairs, the credibility of the messenger is as important as the message itself.
Setting aside their foolish demands for direct U.S. intervention in Iranian elections, Republican leaders are the wrong messenger for democracy-especially in the Middle East. Their post 9-11 disdain for Arabs and Islam, complicity in the illegal war in Iraq, and profound disregard for Palestinian rights makes them unsuited to champion democracy in that region. But another disqualifying offense is that Republicans have all but declared war on democracy here at home.
Throughout the eight years of the Bush presidency, GOP leaders indulged their leader's worst anti-democratic impulses. Unfazed by constitutional constraints, party leaders rammed the odious U.S.A. Patriot Act through a cowed and compliant congress. Now, as they call for more street protests in Tehran, they seem oblivious to the menacing restrictions that law imposes on protesters here at home.
A new crime category in the Patriot Act called "disruptor," gives Secret Service wide latitude to charge protesters for "disrupting major events." including political conventions and the Olympics." It also empowers the Secret Service to charge persons with "breaching security" and for "entering a restricted area" which is "where the President or other personnel are protected by the Secret Service [when they are] or will be temporarily visiting." In other words, stay in those designated "free speech" zones.
This hyper-security atmosphere has resulted in protesters being cordoned off in designated zones, far away from the president or other government targets, rendered invisible and ineffectual. While they have justified such restrictions in the name of national security, GOP leaders scoff-with no irony-at Iranian leaders who make similar excuses for clamping down on protesters on the streets of Tehran.
Last year, prosecutors in Minneapolis, site of the GOP National Convention, invoked a state version of the Patriot Act in prosecuting political demonstrators. The "RNC 8" were charged with felony conspiracy to riot "in furtherance of terrorism and felony conspiracy to commit criminal damage to property in furtherance of terrorism." With the exception of then presidential candidate Ron Paul, who criticized the Patriot Act and the extension of government power, this criminalization of protest evoked nary a peep of remonstration from the guardians of democracy assembled inside the convention hall.
Until a court ruling this month, Republicans used endless stays and legal maneuvers to rob the citizens of Minnesota of a senator. In April, a court in Minnesota declared that Democrat Al Franken "has defeated Republican Norm Coleman and should be granted the election certificate" to take his U.S. Senate seat. Despite this ruling, Republicans continued to block Franken from being seated-all for partisan reasons.
Not surprisingly, as they grandstand as champions of democratic values abroad, GOP leaders do not cheer when Palestinians flood the streets to protest the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank-there, geopolitics and biblical prophesy trump democracy. Nor do they seem particularly interested in the revocation of democracy that took place in Honduras. In the annals of rightwing politics, support for democracy is based not on principle, but on (geo) political expediency.
Those who care about democracy here and elsewhere may be excused for being a little skeptical of the GOP's newfound passion for democracy. After all, it is congressional Republicans who are leading the fight against expanding the right of U.S. workers to unionize. Buttressed by big corporate money, the GOP has mounted an offensive to kill the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a bill that allows union certification with a simple card-check majority. By a large majority, U.S. workers have told pollsters that they would join a union if they could. Often, they are unable to do so due to threats and intimidation by employers.
Sixty million U.S. workers could join unions tomorrow if congress passed EFCA. This would have untold implications for American democracy. It is an article of faith that unionization increases civic engagement among workers. Why isn't this good news for Republican politicians who clamor for "freedom and democracy" all over the world? Why aren't American politicians who openly call for street protests, unbridled dissent, and democracy in Iran more welcoming of American citizens trying to exercise their democratic right to form a union?
The Obama administration is trying to undo some of the damage done to civil liberties, post 9-11. On the labor front, Obama is supporting the Employee Free Choice Act, and there are signs that his choice of Supreme Court justices will reflect these values. But on all these issues, he faces a recalcitrant GOP bent on limiting democracy at all cost.
Now, as its leaders crow about "freedom and democracy" abroad, it seems apropos to remind the GOP of the big elephant in its own back yard.
