15423: Vishnusurf: what would plato think about contemporary haiti? (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: VISHNUSURF@aol.com

i couldn't agree more with pina's take on the sad irony of the sham bush
election & his administration's sanctimonious rhetoric regarding elections in
haiti. this begs an even larger question about politics that merits much more
serious attention than it gets: isn't democracy horribly overrated? can it
really be considered a human right when one has no clean water to drink? i
once taught philosophy in haiti and my students were quite taken by plato's
argument that democracy is in fact the worst kind of government imaginable.
looking at the world and how the smokescreen of democracy has been used time
and again to justify the horrors of american foreign policy, i would have to
say that he is right.  americans elected ronald reagan TWICE, for crying out
loud.
so, let's hear it for a haitian philosopher king!!! or, let's just let
aristide erect his constitutional dictatorship and hope that he is only nasty
to the elite.  but for god's sake, let's not vote on it!!!