Human Rights and Providing for the Common Good as Priorities in Democracy

Human Rights and Providing for the Common Good as Priorities in Democracy

            By Rudy Barnes, Jr., August 30, 2025

Events in Gaza and Russia have challenged the priority of democracy in America’s foreign policy.  Trump, Netanyahu and Putin are demagogues in democracies who have demonstrated that democracies do not guarantee politics that provide for the common good and are not an adequate defense to violations of fundamental human rights.  

The violence in Ukraine and Gaza and Trump’s radical right American regime are unlike conventional aggression where outside forces oppress a population.  They are more like slavery and colonialism where corrupt politicians brutalize those in their own democracies.  They ignore International human rights that are not just for those in wartime, but for all victims of violence.

Trump, Putin and Netanyahu have used Hitler’s playbook to promote their illicit power using nationalism and radical religion to establish their oppressive regimes.  For all of Trump’s braggadocio, he and his Republicans have not opposed the war crimes of Putin or Netanyahu.  They are all complicit in making a mockery of democracy and the rule of law.  

Hitler set a precedent for distorting democracy and Christianity into a political tyranny.  Putin convinced Russian Orthodox Christians to support his restoration of a Russian Empire in his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, while Netanyahu mobilized fiercely loyal orthodox Jews into a Third Temple Movement to keep him in power and avoid charges of political corruption.

Trump has equivocated on opposing Putin’s unprovoked aggression in Ukraine and Netanyahu’s killing over 60,000 Palestinians in Gaza.  Those war crimes are evidence that demagogues like Trump can exploit divisions in a democracy.  But most Americans have proven that they are oblivious to that danger, having elected Trump twice as their President.  They have not learned that democracy cannot protect people from political depravity.

America has put too much emphasis on democracy to protect it from tyranny.  Trump has demonstrated how the exploitation of America’s polarized politics have made it vulnerable to unprincipled politicians.  Even in America a popular demagogue can undermine liberty and freedom with a majority of weak-minded and greedy supporters who ignore the warning signs.

Emphasizing fundamental human rights in the Constitution and providing for the common good rather than favoring the rich and powerful are moral principles essential to protect a democracy from the corruptions of human depravity.  Americans should have learned by now that democracy can offer a false sense of security from unprincipled politicians like Trump.

Democracy makes us the masters of our political destiny--for good or bad.  Democracy is not a panacea.  Too often we choose leaders like Trump who are committed to promote their own power and ignore human rights and the common good.  For democracy to be good, we must choose leaders committed to protect human rights and provide for the common good.