European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 23, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes sunday february 23, 1986 Anthony Lewis americans no longer accept our . Doctrine the reaction to events in the Philippines has taught us something extremely important about the United states. There is a new consensus in America on human rights in foreign policy. Americans across the Pollica spectrum arc no longer prepared to tolerate crude abuses of Power by tyrants simply because they Call themselves  it is a startling development. Only yesterday ideological conservatives were debunking the whole idea of human rights standards in foreign policy. They cheered a Cunt Kirkpatrick s argument that we must hold our noses and support right Wing dictators lest we get some thing worse. Cd Inland Marcos was so crude so cynical in his theft of the philippine election that he exploded the hold the nose doctrine. Americans will not pretend that murder and  Are democracy. Kirkpa trick herself deplored the character of the Marcos elec Tion. The breadth and Force of the new consensus were dramatically demonstrated when president Reagan seemed to excuse the Marcos tactics. He said during his recent press conference that there could have been fraud on both sides in the Philippines voting. The Reagan comment evoked so much outrage that embarrassed administration officials tried to explain it away. The president had not really meant to take the Marcos line they said he had just been careless in his Choice of words. Three Days later Reagan said fraud William f. Buckley and violence coming largely from the Marcos Side had called into question the election s credibility. I doubt that Reagan s press conference comment was just verbal carelessness in his heart he did not want to blame Marcos. But whatever the reason for the com ment no Reagan magic could sustain it As policy. American revulsion at the idea of continued association with Marcos simply overwhelmed it. For filipinos and especially for Corazon Aquino and her supporters the new american consensus carries a Clear message there is a Basic Harmony or interest Between the democratic opposition in the Philippines and opinion in the United states. The Reagan administration is not Likely to move As directly or quickly against Marcos As Aquino would like. But the administration and Cong Russ and the . Public arc on the Side of change in the Philippines and it will make a great difference if Aquino holds fast to that knowledge. Until the last few Days the dominant View in Washington was that the United states should avoid rough tactics with Marcos. It should make its distaste Clear to him As envoy Philip Habib is no doubt doing. It should urge him to prepare his own succession and walk away in a few months All polite and diplomatic. But events have their own momentum and it is hard to be polite to a corrupt dictator who makes preposterous threats to invite the soviets in when americans dare to criticize him. Momentum is thus moving toward tougher .8anc Lions there had been talk of direct my . And funds toward non governmental agencies in the Philippines now Congress May suspend Aid altogether or hold a Large part for release to a Post Marcos government. Sen Bill Bradley d-n.j., has called for direct pressure through the sugar quota and Trade preferences. In All this there is a theme far broader than is. Relations Wilh the Philippines. It is the end of the Atti tude symbolized by Franklin Roosevelt s remark that a foreign dictator was an ., but he s our . Rep. Stephen Solarz d-n.y., reminded us the other Day that Roosevelt said that about Anastasio Somoza of Nicaragua. And that tells us the Point. The United slates paid dearly in credibility and in the regions stability for supporting the Somoza dicta worship Over decades la is still paying. The new consensus seen in inc reaction to the philippine election rejects the premise of our . It rests philosophically on the belief thai the United Stales interests arc More Likely to be served if we identify with the dam Coralic forces in a foreign society. Of course it will not always be As Clear As it is in the Philippines which the democratic Side is. But the principle is a radiating one. What a difference it would make for example if the United states identified itself unhesitatingly with the democratic Hopes of the majority in South Africa. Cd new York times democracy is merely a superstition of fhe West it is time thanks largely to developments in the Philippines to say some unkind things about democracy. The first of these is that democracy docs not necessarily usher in virtuous governments or tolerable human conditions. The second is thai democracy particularly in its currently accepted fanatical application one Man one vote is nothing More than a Western superstition. We arc entitled to our superstitions and to our taboos but it docs not make much sense to assume that they arc readily Universal Zed. Two episodes illustrative in purpose the movie a dozen years ago and the startled re action to it by an american who saw it in Lagos. Nigeria. Scene an 18th-Century american slave ship engaged in trans porting West africans for Sale in the slave markets of Charleston . There is a Mutiny by the Blacks against the White Captain and his White Crew. But it is suppressed the ring leaders of the Mutiny Are segregated and they arc made to walk the Plank. Wild cheering from the audience what goes on Here the Amer ican asked himself his Host a native nigerian and a professor of anthropology explained that africans Are trained to believe in the absolute authority of the chief. And the chief in this picture was the Captain of the vessel and that mattered More than that he was hauling africans into lives of slavery in the new world. Proceed to deplore this Blind allegiance to authority As we All do but Stow it away As a fact of life in Many parts of the world. It certainly has its manifestations when the hitlers and stains find it easy to conscript holocaust and gulag maintenance men. Next an american scholar doing re search into the balloting after one of those elections we in effect presided Over in South Vietnam during that country s Brief interregnum with self Rule elicited from the majority of the peasants he interviewed an attitude toward what they were doing that amounted to condescension Over Western eccentricities. The idea As one Man put it that by dropping a piece of paper in that Box Over against that other Box you were substantially or even intelligently guiding your own future was Well he just laughed. It was certainly self serving when president Ferdinand Marcos told me eight years ago on television that the american legacy of democracy had not been firmly enough rooted in the Philippines. But at the same time he was absolutely right. One does not deduce from his being right that he should also be pics Dent for life but it is True that democracy had become a Sham before president Marcos invoked martial Law in 1972. Contenders were Hir ing private armies and were then As now refusing to abide by the apparent results of elections. It is Safe to say Sim ply that democracy was not working and democracy has hardly had a workout under Marcos of the kind that gives us Confidence it is now ready to work. Democracy is primarily valuable the late Max Eastman wisely summarized in a Book on political philosophy As a negative instrument a Way for a people to say we do not desire the existing rulers to continue to Rule. The notion that democracy is actually an instrument by which the people can Fine tune Public pol icy is a Western superstition along with the notion that anyone 18 years old whether literate or illiterate instructed or dumb should participate in political Deci Sion making. They Are talking now about elections in Haiti where 80 percent of the people Are illiterate and about one Man one vote in South Africa. The Washington Post editorialized with reference to Subic Bay and Clark a in the Philippines and the implied threat against them if mrs. Aqui no should win he is right the bases Are important to the United states. But they Are not More important than the condition of democracy in the Phil  what utter nonsense. We Hope that ordered self Rule will come to the Philippines but whether or not it docs we have Imperial responsibilities in the West Ern Pacific that have nothing whatever to do with civic Progress in that country what matters most is the Constitution of Liberty. John Stuart Mill the Prima Donna of Western democracy conceded this when he opted for autocracy Well intentioned rather than democracy As an instrument of totalitarianism and chaos. Ask not in Africa or in latin America How Many people voted for the incumbent governor ask what kind of life Are the people permitted to live. Are they free Are they protected from arbitrary Rule Are their holdings Safe from inflation and theft can they leave the country with their savings democracy May Triumph in the Philippines and life May become More intolerable As the result. C Universal press Syndicate