Bush repeats the phrase at every opportunity, and it is the premise of his push for democracy in the Middle East and elsewhere: Given a free choice, it is assumed, people will choose freedom and the political system best suited to foster it. ~Rich Lowry, National Review

Of course, therein lies the first and perhaps gravest problem of the whole mess: the assumption that “democracy” is the political system best suited to foster “freedom,” both of which are, of course, never defined or given much thought.  But those who have given it some thought (like, say, Tocqueville) have tended to conclude that democracy, premised on equality and majoritarian rule, is not only not the system best suited to foster freedom or liberty, but may be among liberty’s worst enemies.  This conceptual error alone dooms and condemns Mr. Bush’s vision, long before we ever get to thorny questions of cultural context, traditions of self-government or any of those things that tend to make a mockery of the delusions of democratists.