Our founders began this great nation by providing a governance dedicated to protection of life, liberty and property. They had good reason to avoid both autocracy and democracy. In a democracy, voting is, at best, an exercise in participatory plunder. At worst, it is a means of empowering a majority to oppress or even liquidate the minority. In a constitutional republic, by way of contrast, the voting franchise serves a fundamentally defensive purpose. It is a means not only of choosing representative leaders, but also of removing them should they prove a threat to individual rights of life, liberty and property.

President Bush and his supporters take credit for the birth of democracy in Iraq, ignorant of the fact that democracy and liberty aren’t synonyms. By proudly displaying blue fingers during Mr. Bush’s address, the Republicans sent a message to critics recognizing Bush as Iraq’s “liberator.” But it wasn’t Mr. Bush who pressed for an election, it was Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, religious leader of Iraq’s Shi’ite Muslims who espouses a revolutionary Islam. al-Sistani has no interest in liberty, but majority rule. Iraq’s Kurds don’t relish the idea of being ruled by the Shi’ites or the Sunnis. Iraq’s Christian population is voting with its feet by fleeing the country.

President Bush has unwisely plundered the taxpayers’ property to support a democracy that has no chance of succeeding to provide protection of life, liberty, or property for the Iraqi people. The Republican party has lost its compass by insisting our form of government is a democracy. It’s a republic, a constitutional republic. Noah Webster knew the difference.

Scott Vanderlinden

Oak Harbor