Self-Imposed Democracy
When did we attack Liberia? They’re having a democratic-styled election there and we haven’t even forced them into it. That’s now how it’s supposed to go…
First, thousands of people are supposed to die through starvation, brutality, and mismanagement. Next, a series of political coups occur that causes immense collateral damage among the populace. Last, The US of A, in a blizzard of Deus ex machina and righteous fury, depose the tyrant and save the day.
Run the credits…
That’s not what’s happening in Liberia. They don’t play by those rules. True, they did receive America’s backing for independence, but it was way back in the 1800’s – well before our holier-than-thou push for global Americanization-cum-Democracy. They’ve had their problems, most notably the 1989 attempted coup led by Charles Taylor (I knew a guy by that name once) that, after three years, remained unsuccessful due to an international force of West Africans. Charles Taylor became president and acted as the nations legally elected thug, skimming millions off neighboring Sierra Leone illicit diamond trade. Nevertheless, they managed to maintain their own republic for over 150 years without the aid of Captain America, and today they are having another election: All by themselves.
Can they do that?