Weimar Germany and Iraq

Anyone who has read this blog for any time ought to know that I have utter contempt for the neo-conservatives and I think our adventuring into Iraq was wrong. If you have not been reading all that long, then look down the right hand side for the topical archive and go to Iraq or use the search box at the top of the page to find these articles.

Democratic government is a grand thing. However, I think the neo-cons spent too much time in political theory class and not enough in history class. Which brings to mind Gore Vidal's lament that Americans have historical amnesia but that is no excuse. The neo-cons do not understand how long and difficult was it to make our own government democratic. I would say that did not happen until passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

What got me thinking about this was the New York Times' review of Weimar Germany: Promise and Tragedy :

"Democracy is a fragile flower, as we learn again and again. Among the many failed democracies of the past century, few held more promise than Germany’s Weimar Republic, and none collapsed into greater horror. Its story can be told in two ways: as a drama of decadent excess and tragic flaws, or as an elegy recalling noble promises betrayed by treacherous enemies. Eric D. Weitz’s “Weimar Germany: Promise and Tragedy” falls squarely into the second category."

If as cultured a nation as Germany found democracy tricky, how will any country lacking even the rudiments of a democratic culture? I guess Iraq gives us the answer to that question.