The pundits missed the point all along. Alexis DeToqueville observed that the heart of democracy in America was found in the local councils of New England villages, where local matters were decided by local citizens. Put another way, as Tip O'Neill once observed, "All politics is local."
Iraqi democracy was always going to be produced from the ground up. Sure, voting in national elections and putting together the federal government structure were key steps to re-building Iraq as a free country, but the hard work had to happen in villages and towns across the country, where people had to learn through experience that violence and the embrace of extremists would lead to the abyss. Iraqis have looked into the abyss, and in ever-increasing numbers they have decided to reject that vision for their society. On Thu, Apr 10, 2008 at 7:31 PM, Gruss wrote: > > > > At this week's hearings on Capitol Hill, Democrats will declare that > the surge has not produced political progress and therefore the whole > thing is for naught. That's wrong. There has been political progress. > It just doesn't look the way we expected it to. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;192386516;25150098;k Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:258334 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
