Democracy

[whingknutt]

I think that in all of our democracy propaganda we forgot to mention the concept of responsibility. For instance, Hamas seems to think that just because it was elected that the world shouldn't be able to penalize it for it's attitude because that would be like penalizing the citizens that elected it. This is crap. If you elect an idiot, and the

Comments

[neuromancerzss]

We're not pulling money from Hamas/the PA in order to restrict the damage they do (we could do that simply by squeezing the aid to the point where they were only just making their budget), we're doing it to try to get them to change their stated goals (or in a worse case make the people change their leadership).

Really we are punishing (if rescinding a gift can be considered punishment) the people for electing Hamas, but this is exactly what personal responsibility means. The Palestinian people need to realize that nearly all of their power comes from international support. If they elect a government that contradicts the goals of the people that support them, then it will cost them that support. The bar is set pretty low for a continuation of funding.