US Meddles in Foreign Elections
by John Lawrence
According to an article in the New York Times, Russia Isn’t the Only One Meddling in Elections. We Do It, Too.
James Woolsey, the CIA Director from 1993 to 1995, addressed questions on that point, admitting that the US has interfered in elections in the past, but “only for a very good cause,” and when they thought rigging the vote would benefit democracy.
“It was for the good of the system,” Woolsey insisted. Researchers suggest the US interfered in elections at least 81 times since World War 2, far more often than Russia. Some analysts are arguing that the two are not equivalent, however, because the US meddling was “pro-democracy” in intent.
Well, meddling in elections is, well, meddling in elections. The US is capable of considerable hypocrisy, but this takes the cake. They are all irate about Russia using social media in the same way American hatemongers like Alex Jones and Rush Limbaugh use it, while never admitting that in addition to "meddling", the US has also overthrown democratically elected foreign governments.
Antiwar.com reports: "Yet a casual look at CIA involvement in regime changes shows myriad times when US interference involved ousting democratically elected governments, often by orchestrating coups, to prop up regimes seen more favorable to US interests. In the 1950s, this included regime change in Iran to support BP oil profits, and one in Guatemala for United Fruit Company."
So our democratic values amount to the argument that "we are the good guys, and they're not." What kind of values are those? Basically the kind that, far from making the world safe for democracy, make the world safe for commercial exploitation by American corporations and those of our allies. This is taking hypocrisy to a new level. Are these the values we want our children to live by? Matthew 7:5 says, according to the World English Bible translation:
You hypocrite! First remove the beam out of your own eye,
and then you can see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye.