Stop the spread of Democracy?

There has been a pretty startling amount of democracy insemination in the world lately. What with Condoleeza Rice's missions to Asia, the invasion of two middle-eastern countries, and an overall sense of "Free Man's Burden" in the news (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/12/technology/12filter.html).

Is this expected from a country with a ripened Constitution and a head of pride, or is there a little more than meets the eye to all our worry? Is it the zest of freedom that's leading the country to this, or is it financial gain that's leading the government?

>>8

No, you do... you summarized it adequately well.

Freedom is the ability to make decisions, not a guarantee that you will get your way. I hold that to be true... do you agree with me?

The inability to make decisions is therefore a lack of freedom.

Your problem is, you're conflating liberty with democracy. Democracy simply means that you are a partner in sovereignty. Liberty means that the sovereign body agrees to restrict its power and not fuck with you.

Liberty is awesome, don't get me wrong... but it is not a strictly necessary component of democracy. I don't know why some people seem unable to keep from conflating the two; why do so many people on this message board always assume that liberty and democracy come in a package instead of being sold seperately, as it were? Perhaps because so many of them are Americans, and liberty and democracy are America's cardinal virtues (oh, and don't forget capitalism).