'The War Against Democracy' - 7 comments

My TV listing magazine declares that, tonight at 11.00 pm on ITV:

Film-maker John Pilger argues that intervention by the United States into the political landscapes of Latin American countries has been conducted with the intention of stifling democracy

I wonder how that's going to go. Just on the offchance - the offchance, that is - that it turns out to rest on the fact that Venezuela's President Chávez was re-elected with a higher share of the vote than both George W. Bush and Tony Blair, allow me to inject just one of many possible notes of caution that you're unlikely to hear during its approximate 90 minute running time:

The fashionable concentration on democracy as the main value threatened [by a 'socialist' dictatorship] is not without danger. It is largely responsible for the misleading and unfounded belief that so long as the ultimate source of power is the will of the majority, the power cannot be arbitrary. The false assurance which many people derive from this belief is an important cause of the general unawareness of the danger we face. There is no justification for the belief that so long as power is conferred by democratic procedure, it cannot be arbitrary; the contrast suggested by this statement is false: it is not the source but the limitation of power which prevents it from being arbitrary. Democratic control may prevent power from being arbitrary, but it does not do so by its mere existence. If democracy resolves on a task which necessarily involves the use of power which cannot be guided by fixed rules, it must become arbitrary power.

F Hayek, The Road To Serfdom, Chapter 5

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On second thoughts I don't think this ("Lawrence killer to remain in UK") does demonstrate the current arbitrary use of power here in the UK, but for Shadow ministers to argue that the Human Rights Act that affects us all should be altered on the basis of a single case, on the grounds that it fails to allow the Government to deport a former criminal to - if he has reformed - a life of exile in a country he left 20 years ago, or - if he hasn't - possibly inflict future crimes upon our Italian friends, then this seems a senseless and unreasonable use of Government power in an interconnected world, however (understandably) strong the feelings of the criminal's former victims.

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PS. This post delayed by 2-3 hours due to Blogger being broken, as usual.

Update (24/08): I didn't manage to complete my response to the comments, this evening. I might be ready by Friday afternoon, though most likely the evening.