A Double Standard For The `Good Guys'

Largest democracy No wonder President Bush enjoyed his first trip to India last week. After half a century of strained relations during the Cold War, the world's largest democracy and ours are developing a strategic relationship. Socialist India clung to its old ties to the Soviet Union, but a globalizing India is seeking deeper bonds with America. And Washington clearly sees warm relations with India as a hedge against China's growing power. Let me say -- before I get to my problem with the president's visit -- that these closer ties delight me. In 1998, I had the good fortune to cover a very colorful Indian national election. In Rajahstani villages and Mumbai slums, the local voters understood the impact they could make on their leaders. Elections had real meaning there, perhaps more than here. I also sat in on a session of India's Supreme Court and saw the degree to which rule of law, a concept introduced by the colonial British, was adopted by Indians and made their own, even if it is often abused at lower court levels. This respect for rule of law, in a country with endless languages and sects, helps set Indian democracy apart from many countries that are democracies in name only. http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/14016370.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

Note: http://www.miami.com/ml...