QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 11:14 A.M. ET:  I don't think we've ever quoted Ted Koppel here.  He's a journalist about whom I've had some mixed feelings.  But in a Washington Post piece Koppel makes a great deal of sense, and I hope other journalists read his words:

"Democracy." Let's dump it; toss it on the scrap heap of history. The concept remains worthy, but the word is rapidly being exhausted of all residual value.

Democracy is much more than the elimination of an undemocratic leader. What we have seen this year, unfolding on our television screens and laptops, looks like democracy, but as any Parisian schoolchild can recount, the path from the barricades to a functioning parliament can be tortuous. After the Jacobin terror sent more than 14,000 victims to the guillotine, France (and most of Europe) got Napoleon, whose excesses ultimately led to a restoration of the monarchy. Five years from now, we are more likely to see another Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, or another Ali Abdullah Saleh in Yemen, than to see a functioning representational government in any of the countries now undergoing the "Arab spring."

The instant transfer of political power is intoxicating, but it should not be confused with democracy itself. Neither can a functioning democracy exist without fair elections, and a social compact that accepts representational government and the discipline of abiding by its decisions.

Koppel is right, and let's remember what he says.  Before we shout "democracy is coming" as we watch images on television, let's find out what the "democracy demonstrators" are really for.  We might wind up horrified.  We became horrified over Iran, but by that time it was too late.

May 15, 2011