The rightist debate over democratism proceeds — if not altogether discreetly, ardently. At National Review, Andrew McCarthy, contra John Podhoretz, errs with most foreign policy conservatives. In imputing failures of polity on the very institution of democratic practices, he appears to blame coercive, terroristic acts of authoritarian intransigents on the very populations struggling, and dying, in an effort to liberalize. Sycophancy found in Beirut is obstructive, yes. But does Hezbollah ask the Lebanese for support, or does it exact obeisance through belligerence and murder? Following McCarthy's logic, a country must be unanimous in its move from dictatorship or else reformation is subject to failure.
Another oversight is McCarthy's claim that the Near East has been colored by cultural messianism for generations — when, just half a century ago, the region was off on a honeymoon with secular fascism. Victor Davis Hanson makes this last point repeatedly. Finally, as with conservatives, McCarthy has not presented a substantial alternative method to democraticism for wiping out non-state authoritarians.