Of "Never" and Executive Power

First, an explanation. The Spanish word for "never" is jamas (my spelling could be incorrect). Jamas is pronounced in the exact same way as "Hamas," the fringe organization that just won a majority in the Palestinian parliament.

I wonder what will happen now that Hamas will be in control of the Palestinian Authority. Hamas has refused to redefine its goals and has, in the past, expressed the belief that Israel should be eliminated. How much of this and other goals Hamas will accomplish, or even attempt, remains to be seen. What i find interesting is the democratic question: did democracy work or fail?

On the one hand, the whole point of a democracy is that the people get what they want, to some degree. Here, Hamas ran in a legitimate election and, as far as i can tell, there's been no evidence that there was any tampering with the results. Therefore, the people are getting what they voted for. In this respect, then, democracy has worked exactly as it should, even though a terrorist organization is now in control.

So how could the result be a failure? Is it possible that the majority of Palestinian voters are so ill-informed that they unwittingly voted for the terrorists? This is almost absolutely not the case. So now we're left with the reality that the Palestinians, tired of their previous leadership, elected some extremists. That might be a failure in one sense. This could be an example of the majority choosing something that's bad for it. Already, several leaders of state have expressed hesitancy to deal with the Hamas leadership. The protracted peace process is almost certain to deteriorate even further. It's unclear what sort of social reforms Hamas will enact. Therefore, in some senses, the majority has shot itself in the foot.

But even this is not a failure. Democracy gives us the right to shoot ourselves in the foot. It gives the people the power, at least the power to say who they want to be represented by. This is a lesson that should be remembered here at home, where President Bush believes that he can "resist" potential attempts by Congress to limit his ability to spy on American citizens. W should remember that his job is to enforce laws, not to make them. And, more fundamentally, he should remember that he is bound by the same laws as the rest of us and, i would say, should be held to an even higher standard. In Palestine, members of Fatah, the previously powerful party, resigned to make room for their Hamas successors. In America, our leaders have grown so arrogant as to believe that they can overstep the bounds of law and the Constitution. In Palestine, leaders voluntary gave up their offices to potential terrorists because it was the will of the people. In America, we are asked to forget the laws our representatives have passed to protect us from -- what else -- the terrorists.

I guess the more interesting question is "In which system has democracy truly failed?"