Yes, here is the great question that has gripped me about the Egyptian coup; would there have been democracy tomorrow if not a coup of the democratically elected Islamists yesterday? Ken Masugi asks, “Was the anti-Morsi coup in Egypt justified on liberal and democratic grounds?”He look at the arguments of Thomas Jefferson’s First Inaugural Address to understand what is happening in Egypt and the implications for our own democracy.
Confused reaction to the Egyptian coup (or attempted re-refounding) reveals that it is we Americans who are Egyptians, in an older sense. It is as though we were Jews who have become assimilated to Egypt (cf. Genesis 49-50) and lost our faith and our identity in foundational American political documents. Democracy cannot be identified with elections, but neither is it reducible to a set of classical liberal values.
This is good. Read the whole thing.
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