President Bush began by paying tribute to the founding father of Czech democracy. “Nine decades ago, Tomas Masaryk proclaimed Czechoslovakia’s independence based on the ‘ideals of democracy.’”
Well, that may be what the Masaryk said, but it is not exactly what he did. In 1918, he did indeed proclaim the independence of Czechoslovakia, confirmed by the Allies at Paris. But inside the new Czechoslovakia, built on the “ideals of democracy,” were 3 million dissident Germans who wished to remain with Austria and half a million Hungarians who wished to remain with Hungary. Many Catholic Slovaks had wanted to remain with Catholic Hungary. Against their will, all had been consigned to Masaryk’s Czech-dominated nation. ~Pat Buchanan
Buchanan often surprises with his knowledge of history, which belies the troglodytic caricature his enemies try to project and in which he from time to time revels. Godwin’s Law strikes retrospectively, too–it’s hard to look at the foundation of Czechoslovakia without thinking about 1938 and umbrellas.
If one reads Paris 1919, it becomes apparent that the small peoples of Central Europe were as grabby as more powerful nationalities, but had fewer cannon. The Czechs, of course, had an army in the wrong place for their purposes, Siberia.
Whether a world of nations with their irredentism and tendency to ethnic cleansing is preferable to a world of multinational empires and Ruritanias is an empty debate because time’s arrow has a direction. Resistance to the idolatry of democracy is not empty, because the advocates of jihad for democracy have many weapons and adherents.
Modern democracy has sometimes been accompanied by the rule of law, a strong civil society, and adherence to a measure of civic virtue, each of which exceeds the purple finger in importance and none of which springs into existence by military fiat. Ask any Gazan.