By virtually every measure, we are losing the battle to promote democracy and democratic values around the world. In the last five to eight years, autocratic regimes have gained enormous political and economic capital, and there is no doubt that they plan to use every bit of it to harm the Western world.

The United States and her willing European allies are being forced to turn a blind eye to rising levels of oppression, rising levels of class and race subjugation and outright ethnic slaughter. It is imperative that the free world act now to blunt this trend, or the opportunity for liberty’s triumph in the wake of the Cold War could be in serious jeopardy.

To be honest, many of the Western world’s problems are of their own creation. We had the unfortunate circumstance to have the utterly incompetent and arrogant George W. Bush as our president, who soiled the good will the United States felt after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Assaults on freedom and reason here in our own country have not been ignored by the rest of the world; an annual report from Reporters Without Borders saw the U.S. drop to 53 from 44 in a ranking of press freedoms.

There is a debate in Congress centered on renewing the unilateral authority to wiretap American citizens without a warrant. Any attempt to criticize the Bush administration and its policies is met with a torrent of criticism questioning the detractor’s intellectual and moral constitution.

The United States and Europe, weakened by the war in Iraq and distracted by a global economic slowdown, have also been very slow to react to crises around the globe. Africa, in particular, is sliding backward.

The genocide in Sudan continues. Free and fair elections in Zimbabwe, which resulted in an overwhelming victory for the opposition party, are being overruled in a blatantly obvious power grab by current President Robert Mugabe. The West has done virtually nothing to help broker peace and freedom on this continent.

Why is this so? Very simply, we cannot lecture Iran on the democratic rule of law while our government uses the Department of Justice to launch politically-charged prosecutions. We cannot lecture China on human rights, while barring gay couples from marrying and adopting.

We cannot lecture Africa on honoring a free and fair vote while ignoring disturbing voting problems here in our own country. Moreover, tax cuts and dramatically increased discretionary and non-discretionary spending, coupled with loose regulation of the financial markets, have put the U.S. (and the world) economy in danger of recession.

What are the steps to a solution? First, the United States must elect a completely new slate of leaders. John McCain has proven that he is incompetent on the issues of national security and the economy.

Hillary Clinton’s refusal to disavow her vote to authorize military action in Iraq and her vote to designate Iran’s military as a terrorist organization show that she, too, does not have the judgment the U.S. needs. Barack Obama is much more likely to reinvent the world image of the United States, and present a responsible foreign policy.

Second, the United States must turn inward and repair its economy. The financial markets should be subject to more stringent regulatory guidelines and there must be a long-term commitment to pay down the national debt. The U.S. economy will turn into recession this year, but these steps should ensure that we emerge stronger than we entered.

Third, the United States must heavily invest in producing a standard alternative energy source for automobiles and home heating. In order to truly reduce the political and economic capital of rogue states in the Middle East, we must lose our addiction to oil.

Fourth, the United States must reduce its presence in Iraq. It is clear that we cannot pull out entirely, or we will be watching a grave crisis devolve into a humanitarian catastrophe that we will be forced to address in the future.

However, a sustained force of 140,000 American soldiers is neither sustainable nor desirable. The goal of the “surge,” which was to increase security to provide for political reconciliation, has produced mixed results at best and a long-term U.S. presence is likely only to ferment resentment toward the West in Iraq.

Fifth, Europe must stand up and bear more of the responsibility for the worldwide effort to defeat terrorism and oppression. Nations like France and Germany, reluctant to support the Bush Administration, are hurting the effort with reactionary responses to any military or economic action. Scott Harris is a UMass student. He can be reached at [email protected].