Dr. Showan Nafie Khurshid | Exclusive to Ekurd.net

Very unfortunately, the American political system is under great stress, and I hope that it will not implode, because we all in the world (I mean, those who care about civilization, and care about the great contribution of the Western civilization to the world) will stand to lose. The reason for the great contribution of the West is that it has reinvented democracy. I define democracy as a Method to Organise Struggle for Political Power Peacefully (MOSPPP). Democracy is not the rule of people and has never been be.

Democracy was invented in the Ancient Greece once and again in Britain in 1689. It started with turning the system into constitutional monarchy. Of course, the Brits and currently tens of countries around the world do not implement democracy or what I call as MOSPPP) to do the world a favor. They implement it because it is peaceful, more just and it is the way to avoid bloodshed and destruction. By relieving people, initially, those of Britain, from periodical civil war and destruction, enjoying the freedom, the people of the West could progress, advance in science, technology, military capabilities and commerce. However, this does not mean that all Western people, governments and their corporates have dealt justly with the populations of the rest of the world. So, there are also grudges, hatred, as well as envy held by the people who are wronged or left behind.

Some Westerns have become racists assuming that their superiority is due to their race. They should be reminded that that superiority is due to MOSPPP, and once they lose it, they will also lose their attributes and their position in the world – which is something I hope it will not happen, because the world they have created is immensely better than what we had before and because those who wronged the world were not exactly democrats. They were selfish ignorant. So, democracy should not be blamed for their actions.

I am not a white person, and I suspect that I might also have been discriminated against by some racists, but we are not perfect, and I cannot deny that I have met and been assisted by wonderful white people. Troubles happen, and the issue should not be personal.

The point I want to make is to say: save your democracy. Destroying it is like suicide for yourselves. Do not turn yourselves into Putin’s Russia, Xi Jinping China, Kim Yong Un’s Korea. or Khamenei’s Iran. With Biden, there is still a hope that democracy survives, Trump has openly declared that he will be a dictator on day one. He will laugh at everyone by declaring that the mandate he bestowed upon himself upon himself (to be the dictator on the day one) allows him to decree that he will be the dictator for good. He will not be contradicting himself if he does so.

Think about the form the struggle for power will take under Trump? I am sure, because he did it once before in January the 6th, 2021, he will once again invite the likes of Proud Boys, Qanons, Keepers of the Oath to come to wreak havoc, kill and intimidate people into submission. This time he might even be able to enlist the service of the army and CIA. One way or another, he will purge the systems from all opposition and independently thinking people.

You might feel sympathy with the January 6th rioters, perhaps because you assume that they are your saviours, but these people, who claim to have been wronged by the system, will come to occupy the top of political and social system by force and intimidation. They are the new barbarians at the gates, and they are the destroyer of the Western civilization.

Now, I do not commend the leftists, indeed, I have no more respect for the far left than for the far right. They, inspired by the stupid Marxist idea and hatred. Yet, they are similar to the right wingers in that they have no respect for democracy. I suspect that they are even cooperating with the Islamists, who are the enemies of the West and even enemies of civilization, considering they struggle for power in most brutal way. Their ideologies (the Marxist and Islamists) are useful for them because it allows them to exploit the system in the name that it belongs to “capitalists bourgeoisie”.

However, the leftists are, at least, not agitating openly to destroy the current MOSPPP, like the right wingers do. Perhaps, they are confident that their numerical superiority will bring the win in the ballot box. Therefore, might be thinking that for the time being they do not need to attack and destroy the system, although they are asserting themselves on the campuses right not and probably testing the system.

This is a sad situation for the true liberal democrats and all those who see their power fading away and feel being caught between two equally unpleasant foes. Thus, some right wingers try to manipulate the electoral system unashamedly because they believe that the opposite side are the enemies and if they lose to them this around they will lose the country for good.

However, the way out is not Trump. It is not by destroying democracy or fomenting hatred against foreigners. It is a new governance philosophy. Trump is the last person to be capable of philosophy. Mind you, your system is built by philosophers like Hobbes and Locke.

A source of danger in the world is the Islamist ideology. Yet, what did Trump do in this regard? First thing he did in 2016 is to visit Saudia Arabia, and all his rhetoric against Islamist disappeared. Very likely he and family members and and son-in-law benefited and still benefit from Saudi financial contributions.

Worse, Trump allowed the Islamist Erdogan to invade North Syrian, to punish Kurdish fighters who defeated ISIS. To this day the Islamists and Erdogan’s army are killing Kurds and raping Kurdish women. Why did Trump do so? Perhaps, he thought that he will be able to brag about cutting military expenditure. However, there was also some gain for him. He owns properties in Turkey, and I think it was John Bolton who said that Trump abandoned the Kurds for some financial gains from Erdogan.

It was also amazing that Trump started negotiation with the Taliban. Islamism is based on intolerant ideology, without degrading the ideology, and without diminishing its appeal, negotiating without persistent and relentless degradation of the ideology means acknowledging the superioty of the ideology and signalling to the population that the terrorists are coming back to rule them. Of course, people, out of fear or the appeal of the ideology will switch sides, lest they suffer the most inhumane punishment. This was the reason for the rapid collapse of the Afghan system. However, Trumpists did conveniently put the blame on Biden who had just started his tenure.

The second source of danger to American democracy and in the world is the Marxism inspired left. Their beliefs, it seems to me, is calcified like religion. Their dominance in the media and the academia is based not on their superior philosophy. It is rather due to, on the one hand, the cancel culture, harassment, moral condemnation of their opponent, intolerance of free speech and demagoguery. In many regards, they very different from Islamist although they are not as violent even though they are capable of being so, considering the horrors they committed in the former socialist countries and still committing in Cuba and N. Korea. The deplorable social and political culture they brought in is a source of major grievance of white middle class American people.

On the other hand, the dominance of the dogmatic leftists is also due to the unfortunate fact that their opposition have chosen religion to be their ideological framework. Religions are laughable means for philosophical and political debates. Religions do not reflect understanding of the the world. Historically, religious people either annihilated or enslaved each other. This is one of the reasons that some Christians support Trump because, he is promising to annihilate the “vermin” left.

Even if it is possible that two ideological groups, whether based on religions, racism, fascism, or communism, coexist, they will prevent integration among their followers. Simply, non-democratic ideologies can easily become industries that provide wealth and enjoyable lives for the ideologues and priests. And to keep their businesses alive and thriving, they put fences around their subjects by erecting psychological or even coercive barriers. As such, with religions, even democracy cannot deliver its benefits sufficiently and consistently, even if it was possible for a short term.

The way out of this dilemma is the adoption of scientific thinking. Science is not just a means for discovering facts about the world. As importantly, it is a neutral way that can be adopted by any person regardless of their identities and social backgrounds to settle intellectual differences between people. In science, you might win when your present evidence and not superstitions. Of course, it is also obvious that sciences cannot provide clear answers to all questions immediately. This does not matter much when you are discussing natural phenomena.

But for social and political issue scientific approach requires democracy. In this sense, democracy is a means to allow the majority to choose the policy, provided that the policy will not cause excessive damages that render political actor incapable of resuming their critiques and attempting to overturn the decision, and becoming the new majority. Hence, there is a need that the majority and minority should not be based on identity, whether it is race, religions, ethnicity, gender or ideologies that prevent the free flow of people across the divides. Only scientific way of thinking allows free movements and exchange across groups.

I understand the turmoil and chaos in the American cities, which might be because of the Woke, Islamists and gangs that came along with migrants. But it is also due to the self-imposed intellectual handicap taken up by many American people. The conservative’s ideologies of religion, capitalism, and Trumpism exacerbate the problem. What I suggested is will not bear fruits within a few years. The problem is the damaged caused by decades of mismanagement cannot be repaired in a few years. But I think it is the only way.

Showan Khurshid is an author and lecturer of Politics at Salahaddin University. He holds a PhD in Political Theory from Cardiff University.

The opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of Ekurd.net or its editors.

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