Democracy and diversity

Some of us haven't forgiven Tom Friedman for supporting the Iraq war, and we've noticed that, no matter how ferocious his criticism of the war has been, he has never admitted that he was wrong. That being said, Friedman has a terrific column today, on the need for diversity--what used to be called tolerance--in the Muslim world. Great quote:

[D]emocracy is not about majority rule; it is about minority rights. If there is no culture of not simply tolerating minorities, but actually treating them with equal rights, real democracy can’t take root.

This is a key point and it helps to explain cases--such as in Venezuela--where democratic mechanisms have been used to install authoritarian regimes, or worse. And, although Friedman does not acknowledge it, the reasoning applies fully to Iraq.