Where real democracy and governance takes place: on the inside

The New York Times has an excellent article, today, on the movement that is most likely to secure a more democratic, secular, and liberal (meaning liberty-loving) direction for Turkey: by its own people.

Election in Turkey May Be a Watershed

And, interestingly enough, it does not come from liberal and independent Turks rallying around their secular military. It comes from liberal and independent Turks rallying around the rights of conservative and religious Turks who secular elites and military officials have attempted to stigmatize with a campaign of fear.

A very nice analysis by Sabrina Tavernise about how liberties of thought and conscience and expression - the right of women to wear head scarves without being stigmatized, as they often are in Turkey and France, for instance - are far more fundamental than who wins or loses power and elections. And how those liberal values are being taken more seriously by many Turks than who wins power.

What a refreshing approach to liberal democracy, huh? Americans and Europeans have a lot to learn from that example. And it is certainly a better example than European efforts to manipulate Turkey with sticks and carrots, rather than genuinely nurturing liberal democratic values and institutions internal to Turkey.

Even in liberal democracies, we just get so focussed on getting our way, that we forget that perhaps there are more fundamental values involved.

Love,
Ben