By By Andrea Ordonez, Columnist
Though the protests in Egypt ended with the resignation of the country’s leader, the revolts in Libya are not going as smoothly. Gadhafi continues to use the front that only a small portion of the country is against him. “My people love me,” he said in a recent interview with ABC News. “They would die for me.”
The U.S. government played a part in the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt. Now, U.S. leaders say it is necessary to do their part to remove Gadhafi from power in Libya. “Gadhafi has lost the legitimacy to govern, and it is time for him to go without further violence or delay,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said to reporters after a special meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council. According to coverage by the New York Times, President Obama has taken similar actions by freezing Gadhafi’s family and government assets.
Everyone deserves basic human rights, but their promotion by Clinton and Obama seems like a poorly informed campaign. Both appear to speak and act without remembering that not all leaders of the world obtain and maintain their positions for the public’s sake. Countries such as Egypt and Libya have been running under these governments for long periods of time. Leaders like Gadhafi are willing to use force and even kill their own people in order to keep power.
The current media fails to focus on America’s role in promoting democracy across the globe. Instead it continues to portray Obama and Clinton as dignified crusaders of global democracy. Pragmatically, the idea of world peace throughout history has always been a fantasy, and continues to be unrealistic now.
Some can, and do, argue that the U.S. does not even function under the most lax definition of a true democracy. Unhappy citizens constantly argue that the U.S. government has inhibited them in terms of fulfilling certain rights, such as the pursuit of happiness, which should otherwise not have restrictions.
While focusing on promoting democracy seems noble, the actions of Clinton and Obama actually subtly show their weaknesses as political leaders. They focus so much on the rest of the world’s problems that they overlook the ones back¬ home. Should a country plagued with a ridiculously large deficit, wars in the Middle East, and continued dissension over healthcare pause domestic duties to preach to another country that it should be democratic?
The answer for many would be yes: no matter how bad things are in the U.S., at least we are given rights that allow us to complain. However, deeming that the rest of the world be just like us is rather ignorant. To Clinton and Obama: Speak your piece about democracy to the rest of the world, but also remember to focus on the problems within the country you represent.