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Bear in mind...

"Politicians talk themselves red, white, and blue in the face."

Clare Booth Luce

"Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions
without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of
frontiers."

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19

"There are more pleasant things to do than beat up people."

Muhammad Ali

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Human rights begin at home

These past few weeks of uncertainty following an extremely close US presidential election have been the occasion for much discussion about the meanings of and relationships among freedom, democracy and the rule of law. Observed from abroad, the cant and hypocrisy emanating from American politicians and their lawyers have been palpable, and the situation has given those who are disposed to denigrate the US political system plenty of ammunition for their arguments. However, the way that most of the American people have reacted to the on-and-off vote count - calmly, with more concern for the country than for their preferred political parties - is one of the best-ever demonstrations of how thoroughly they embrace democratic values. The punishment that would be dished out at the polls in 2002 to any party perceived to have stolen this election would be an even more spectacular demonstration. In the United States, democracy is something that people expect, not just a slogan that politicians expound.

Freedom is necessary for a democracy, but it's not the same thing. It's not possible to have a fair election if there is no freedom to discuss the positive and negative aspects of the candidates to be selected and the propositions to be decided. On the other hand, the history of democratic politics is full of examples of majorities giving their governments mandates to suppress the freedoms of minorities. In the US context, slavery and racial discrimination have been the most outstanding examples of this, though a large proportion of the white majority will deny this, or will deny that this legacy means anything today.

Though the US Constitution created the most democratic republic of its time, its most revered parts are found in the Bill of Rights, a series of 10 amendments, some of them very anti-democratic. Under the first amendment, Christians don't have the right to force the Jewish minority to convert, and a political majority doesn't have the right to close down the opposition press. The fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth amendments prohibit kangaroo courts, even when inflamed majorities would prefer a lynching.

The US Constitution has not always worked well. As in other countries, its most infamous failures to protect fundamental freedoms have been with respect to racial and ethnic minorities. But meanwhile, as in most other places, the worst and most persistent abuses have been those in which both freedom and democracy have been violated, when a minority has wronged the majority. This is the case in Panama, too.

What is the most common hate crime of all? It's not people attacking one another for the colors of their skins. It doesn't arise from different languages, cultures or religions. It's the violence visited upon the female majority by the male minority. It's the domestic violence, rape and degradation to which so many women are subjected by so many men.

This is the season when Panama's Christians celebrate the birth of the man they call the Prince of Peace, and when people of all faiths pay tribute to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It's also a good time to remember that peace and human rights are hollow phrases if they are not practiced in the home.