Maybe we should try this Democracy thing here in America?

billmon points us to the following passage from a recent post by Josh Marshal on the recent political wrangling within the Palestinian Authority: The deeper story seems very positive: the emergence of something like conventional politics, the open vetting of the crucial issues and thus the possibility of democratic accountability. More than anything else, it's the splintering of unitary power within the Palestinian authority and the possibility of having the crucial political questions hashed out with some degree of openness rather than by violence and opaque factional in-fighting. This is important. And, potentially, good news for everyone. To which billmon responds: Sigh. Now if we could just have some of that "good news" here in this country . . . I was thinking much the same thing. Why is it that Democracy is such a good thing for the rest of the world but something to be discouraged here in America?