Prejudice of Lebanese Christians, and choosing a president
Lebanon, Editorial, 1/22/2008

The Lebanese are struggling to elect a new president, and the position is empty and they have not been able to agree on a president. Instead of have an election for a president, and having the president elected by the public, in Lebanon, the president is elected by the parliament.

Lebanon is the most democratic Arab state, by far. However, and with their impasse to elect a president, some have turned to the Arab League for help. The Arab League is a great idea about Arab nationalism, in that pooling countries resources together can be extremely beneficial, but it is a failed institution in practice because most of its members are not democratic and are allergic to such ideas, and have refused to make the Arab League a democratic institution. So while the Arab League idea may be lead by good men trying their best under the limits of the organization that refuses to reform itself, we find that a bunch of non-democratic countries have to decide for a democratic country who its president should be.

Most of these Arab states do not like democracy and do not like notions of personal freedoms, and as such, they are sometime anxious to help Lebanon guide it in the wrong direction. And, at this time, as in the past, some Lebanese Christians are helping out.

Some Lebanese Christians would like to have the Army military leader be the president. Christians have had trust in the army in the past because they had the top positions controlling it. But the cynical part about this, and about the Arab League support for such a person, is not the person himself, but that a serving military leader of Lebanon's army would be made president. Christians maybe seeking assured patriotism, for their fears of others who more highly favor Arab patriotism, but having the military involved in politics seems like an extremely bad idea.

Neighbor countries with their military leadership leading or controlling or influencing the politics of their own countries seem like very poor example of politics to adopt and a downward path to a poor democratic system, if there will be any democratic system left, with the slow eating away at its institutions and principals.

Sometimes, during difficult times, courage is required to chart a completely new direction in life, whether it is in one's personal life, or for a country. When I offered myself to be considered for the office of the presidency, I was aware of Lebanon's supposed requirement for the Lebanese president to be Christian. But having been brought up in Christian schools, and attending churches, even as a non-Christian, I always have hope that human beings can transcend their prejudice and self-imposed limitations and fears.

It is clear to me in my experience that many Christians and many Muslims have extreme prejudice about each other. It is also my experience that a great many do not have any such prejudice. So one question that the Lebanese would have to face is: are you going to try to live with the prejudice or try to break it, and to start looking at individual ability without regard to religion.

The Lebanese can be a very vibrant people with a very rich progressive history. But the civil war did much damage to their views of each other, and created deep imbedded mistrusts. Furthermore, they seem to be stuck in a system of politics that they are unable to break out of, and reform.

It is not clear why Christian leaders, and especially the top influential Christian leadership, would not support a non-Christian like me, given my belief system regarding politics and freedom of expression and freedom of religion. I am not sure if they are interested in keeping the same system or moving to something much better.

It is not clear why Hizbullah would not support someone like me, where the publication I managed published in the past on a daily basis their struggle against Israel, not letting their effort be out of view of the public.

It is not clear why Hariri's group would not support someone like me, given the coverage for ensuring that his dad gets death gets the needed attention, because of the great contribution he did.

And as for Junblat, I have witnessed the plain spoken courage of him, when he spoke against Christians, or against Muslims, or others, speaking forthrightly, even when his life was in danger.

I will repeat the statement that supporting a non-Christian, and removing religion out of government positions, when done properly, would make the Christian community much stronger not weaker. It will do the same for other groups as well, because the system will be based on merit, and not religion.

And when people stop mixing religion with politics, religion may become safe from the abuse of politicians, and those who use religion to abuse people, of their own, or of other religions.

The less religion in politics, it would seem, the better it will be for everyone. It seems clear enough, but are the supposedly more progressive Lebanese portion of the population, the Christians, progressive enough, to do what makes sense, or are they really just like many other groups, just interested in holding on to the old system, because of possible misleading self-interest, and their fear from embracing a different but better future.

Christian leaders, and those who claim to have Lebanon's interest at heart, seems to be interested in their own interest, which is natural, but apparently, they don't seem to understand their own interest well enough.

Lebanon, it seems to me, needs a new form of government, that embraces personal freedoms, freedom from religion in government, freedom of fear from the government, and a new voting system, and a new from of government and democracy that is not based on simple majority voting, but based on the protection of the rights of the individual. An individual is a minority of one, and when you protect his/her rights, you protect the rights of minorities, and of the population at large. I have written about these ideas in my book on creating a rational form government, and these ideas should be considered for support.

If what I just said makes sense, then the next question needs to be asked of yourself: why not support these ideas and someone like me?

By,
Jamil Kazoun


By,
Jamil Kazoun


Author of the book: A Second American Revolution: Creating Rational Government
and the book: A Third American Revolution: A New World Government . A Plan for Liberty, Justice and Peace"

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