Turkey is the Latest Example of Liberal Support for Democratically-Elected Dictators

           Liberal Democrats have a pattern of supporting dictators who had been democratically elected against any coup d'etat or even peaceful, constitutional overthrow, even though these dictators are often anti-American and are sometimes even supportive of terrorism.

Turkey is only the latest example in recent decades, after Haiti, Venezuela and Honduras.

            Liberal Democratic United States President Bill Clinton insisted that anti-American leftist Jean Baptiste Aristide be returned to power in Haiti after he had been overthrown.  Aristide’s second overthrow during the presidency of George W. Bush was opposed by liberals.  Some of them criticized Bush for not restoring the dictator.

            Liberal Democrats also criticized Bush for not opposing the coup attempt against socialist anti-American terrorist-sponsoring dictator Hugo Chavez in Venezuela early in his reign, as Chavez’s increasing authoritarianism was already becoming apparent.        

           

            Liberal Democrats also opposed the constitutional removal from office of the Chavist would-be dictator in Honduras after he had attempted to amend the Constitution to extend his rule, in the style of Chavez.  President Barack Obama, another liberal Democrat, sanctioned the Honduran government, which respected liberty and representative government.

            Obama opposed the coup attempt against the Islamist government of Turkey.

            I should also note Obama had opposed the military coup against the Islamist government of Egypt, which had come to power through a revolution and which was becoming increasingly authoritarian.  Although it has been replaced by an authoritarian government, at least it is not Islamist and is an ally against terrorism. 

            Even though a leader is elected democratically, he can erode liberty and become a dictator, often gradually, whether or not the people desire a dictatorship.  The process of how such a usurper takes power is irrelevant to whether or not he is a dictator; his election does not make him any less dictatorial.  If he retains power through a subsequent election, his rule is still not legitimate because it is already compromised by his authoritarianism.  There have long been historical examples of such democratically-elected dictators, such as Napoleon of France and Adolph Hitler of Germany, but the lesson, like many in history, seems lost on liberals who emphasize the process of coming to power over the misuse of power and emphasize the will of the people over liberty.    

           The historical lesson from the rise of dictators who had been elected democratically means that it can even happen to the United States.