SODOM & GOMORRAH: As Restorus.org has argued time and again, liberalism and democracy do not always go hand in hand. The developments in Libya are proving this true.
The transitional government in Libya has begun trying to formulate a new legal system based on Sharia law. Westerners responded with horror and disbelief that Libya, which is now formally a democracy (there will be a vote to determine the next steps), would take such an illiberal position.
Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, the former minister of justice under Gaddafi, has assured the international community that Libyans are moderate Muslims. We at Restorus are not convinced. We would argue, with good reason, that political moderation is a lie. The Libyans are either building a state that draws its legal legitimacy from the Koran, or they’re building a state that draws it from liberal values. Neither is moderate; one is radically Muslim and the other is radically liberal. Legitimacy, whenever it appears, is never a moderate idea, but universally one of the most radical implications.
This article is almost painful to read; the poor writer is lamenting that “modern democratic freedom” (i.e. the only freedom that likely counts to the reader) may not bloom in Libya.