Democracy versus Democracy Founded Upon Individual Rights

When you come down to it, for as much as we laud it, democracy is, by itself, nothing more than mob rule. Lots of places have democracy, many of which are far removed indeed from a "liberal democracy." From Villagers With Torches, an insightful post pointing out that it is not "democracy" that we should be pushing, or at least not democracy alone:

It MAY be too late for Egypt. It may be impossible in Islamic majority nations (and if so the sooner we know the better), but someone in the USA in leadership or potential leadership positions had better speak up so that we have a 30 second sound byte as to the difference between a mob intimidation rule of the masses, and a democracy whose PURPOSE is the protection of the individual while having majority rule.

Very well put. We pushed in 2005 for elections in Gaza and ended up with Hamas. It is quite possible that we could see the same in Egypt unless the call for democracy is irrevocably coupled with an even stronger call for individual rights.