(E-mail to U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina)
Sir,
I'm surprised that you, a U.S. Congressman, would have such a shallow understanding of American history.
Yes, it took 11 years (not 14, as you say) from the acceptance of the Articles of Confederation by the Continental Congress (1777) to the ratification of the Constitution (1788), to fine-tune the Law of the Land on paper.
But that doesn't mean that the spirit of the Law, the real thing, didn't exist before then. Democracy in America didn't spring up suddenly in a 11-year year period. It had been evolving for centuries, beginning with the Magna Charta in the mother country (1215) and advanced in the Colonies since the Mayflower Compact (1620) By the time the Revolutionary War broke out, the basic institutions of democracy (though not as expansive as they are today) were already deeply-rooted in American government.
To suggest that, given a few more months or years, a disunited tribal society like Iraq, with no tradition whatsoever in democratic rule, can of a sudden come together and become a full-fledged democracy is delusional.
Nor are the comparisons with post-WWI Germany and Japan valid.
Those nations already had a long history of internal cooperation, cultural unity, an industrialized economy and a literate population—a sound base for democratization.
You might further consider that less developed nations—Cuba, Angola, Bolivia, Liberia, to name some—have tried to mimic our democratic form of government, but to no avail, though their constitutions are as well written and, in some cases, five times lengthier and more detailed than ours. Most nations—Iraq included—simply lack the political, social and economic underpinnings to sustain a true democracy. Democracies, in short, cannot be created out of nothing overnight.
The war in Iraq may be justified, as you claim; but if I were you, I would argue your case from a different angle. Your democracy-building spin is not going to convince many of us voters. We're not that naïve or ignorant.
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