Another example of why principles, not cults of personality, must drive policy consideration

Michael Rubin at AEI reminds us why making stars out of dissidents and political prisoners doesn't necessarily lead to Jeffersonian democracy:

In 1990, Burma’s junta stripped opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi of her election victory and placed her under house arrest. The following year, the Nobel Foundation, citing “her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights,” awarded her its peace prize.

Soon, Suu Kyi’s empowerment became Washington’s metric for success in Burma. Pundits cited Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 2011 visit to Suu Kyi as a “clear-cut triumph” for US efforts to bring Burma in from the cold.

Today, however, Suu Kyi provides cover for a campaign of ethnic cleansing that has killed thousands and made nearly a half million more refugees in Burma.

He cites some other examples that illustrate his case:

Alas, she’s not alone as the recipient of misplaced hope. For decades, Western diplomats seeking to reform rogue regimes have bet everything on dissidents and individual politicians. Yet for every Lech Walesa, there has been a Suu Kyi. Too often, subjects of liberal hope have ushered in not peace and liberalism but dictatorship and bloodletting.

Diplomats and pundits once celebrated Eritrea’s Isaias Afwerki and Rwanda’s Paul Kagami as progressives, if not committed democrats; today, both men preside over repressive dictatorships. Fifteen years ago, officials likewise celebrated Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s rise to power as a man who could democratize Turkey. Instead, he has embezzled billions of dollars and transformed Turkey back into a police state.

Even when there was never any illusion about a partner’s commitment to democracy, misplaced hope in the ability of individuals to change themselves and transform society has backfired.

The basic lesson here is that every last human being falls short of God's glory. Setting that kind of store by one of them is asking too much of political reality.

This is not to say that some historical figures are worthy of admiration, but even in those cases, the principles must remain front and center.

This is something we should hope occurs to the drooling, bug-eyed devotees of the current US president sooner rather than later.