Final Word from Tuesday, March 8, 2005
Lawrence Kudlow, a conservative commentator on CNBC, talks about the "dominoes of democracy." First Afghanistan, then Palestine, Iraq, Ukraine, Egypt and Lebanon. Even George W. Bush's critics acknowledge that without Iraq, this trend wouldn't have been possible. In the CR, there's no question of the existence of free elections, but the current political crisis has raised new doubts about the effectiveness of the democratic system. Most Czechs want better government, but the politicians aren't listening. Talk of "mafia capitalism" is resurfacing, and the recent suspicious death of a top police official was quickly explained away as suicide. As democracy moves forward in the Middle East, why is it standing still or moving backward in the CR? Voters feel hopeless in the process and aren't willing to take to the streets to put the dominoes of democracy in motion. [Czech Republic U.S. United States of America]