Democracy in Afghanistan...I just don't think it will work...yet

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." (as cited in Padover, 1939, p. 89)

". . . whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that, whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them right." (as cited in Padover, 1939, p. 88)

Jefferson, Education and the Franchise
by Professor Thomas Jewett

The above quotes were the cornerstones of Jefferson's interest in education and the franchise, the Right to Vote. He placed education as the foundation of democracy and a prerequisite to vote.  Ignorance and sound self-government could not exist together: the one destroyed the other. A despotic government could restrain its citizens and deprive the people of their liberties only while they were ignorant.

Thomas Jefferson espoused the principle that a democracy demanded and educated and informed electorate.  I will save the application of this principle to the United States for another time.  However, allow me to apply it to a different country of some import to the United States…Afghanistan. 

Let us first look at the educational statistics for the country of Afghanistan.  The literacy rate for the adult population (everyone over the age of 15) is about 28%.  The literacy rate of women in Afghanistan is only about 18%.  Now we have a bigger percentage of people in the country that are between the ages of 15  and 24 that can read, a whopping 34%.  These figures come from several different sources, including UNICEF, UNESCO and the U.S. State Department, and are with a percentage point or two of one another. 

Very pertinent to these statistics is the fact that the State Department thinks the literacy rate is actually lower than what is published; pointing out that the country has been at war in one form or another for three  decades.  Does that figure boggle your mind?  It should !  World War II would have lasted from 1941 to 1971.  The Vietnam War would have ended in about 1995 if you apply the years to our own involvement in a war.  If you consider that the Afghanis were on the losing end for a significant period, it is that much worse.

If we use the highest education figure for literacy, which is probably optimistic, we can conclude that about 66% of the population of Afghanistan cannot read and write.  Let us ignore the fact that only half as many women can read as men (18%).  There are conclusions that can be drawn from this, but I shall leave them for a bit later.  The point is, how do you maintain a democracy in a country in which 2/3 of the population cannot read nor write?  I would argue that you cannot.  I would also argue that, if the world were to concentrate all the resources available, it could not educate the population of Afghanistan for at least another decade, assuming you could concentrate that much effort on the problem, which you can’t.

As a result of the lack of education, Afghanistan is a feudal society.  Think England in the Middle Ages, between say the 9^th Century and the first part of the 14^th Century, finally being abolished by law in 1660.  The feudal tier system was based on who owned the land, because the land was used to grow food.  He who owned the land, controlled the food and controlled the people.  In Afghanistan you have warlords that are powerful, much like the feudal lords of Old England.  This power stems from something slightly different than control over the land, but it is power nonetheless and it is used to control an ignorant electorate.  If you are an individual that is dependent on the powerful warlord that controls the area in which you live, you do what you are told by him; who to vote for in particular.  It is the absolutely perfect environment for what we would call corruption.  Votes are bought at best and extorted at worst.  What does an ignorant individual rely on for information about who is running for office anyway?  It is not like he is reading the newspaper, and since only about 2% of the population has some form of Internet access, it is doubtful they are reading it online, as well.

The fact that the female population is illiterate at greater rates than the male population tends to fit into this ancient traditionalist society.  Why ever would a woman need to read?  She is completely dependent on her man and reading is for men alone, in the mind of many men.  It is certainly a way to isolate the female population from anything resembling equality.  Ignorance is an insulation that prevents any form of equal rights movement from taking hold in the country.  So much for women’s suffrage.

So, what is the alternative to a democracy of the ignorant?  Although heresy to some, it is really a benevolent dictator, and when I say benevolent, I mean the kind of dictator that educates his people, and therefore himself, out of a job.  A benevolent dictator does whatever he can to educate his population so they can make decisions for themselves and eventually, the assumption will be that they remove him from office, when he is no longer needed.  Of course, power corrupting as it does (see Lord Acton), the guy in power probably does not leave office unless he is physically removed, like being shot in the head or something.  We have seen that recently in what is becoming known as “The Arabian Spring.”    Much like the U.S., they want to “…dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another…”  Remember The Declaration of Independence, King George and The American Revolution?

I once heard that trying to convert African Natives to Christianity is like trying to nail a lift to the heel of a barefooted person.  Trying to convert the population of Afghanistan to a democratic society is much the same, and yet, we are in Afghanistan trying to convert them.  So far, it ain’t working too well, no matter how many troops we send with bombs and guns, and hammers to tack those democratic lifts on the heels of the population.  Force of arms is not going to convert the Afghanis to a free society, because, at the risk of sounding paternalistic, they just aren’t ready for democracy.  They have to outgrow their Middle-Aged thinking.  Let us hope it does not a take a plague that reduces the population by a third to allow them to do it, but also let us not sacrifice another American life on a fool’s errand.