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A little dash of democracy will fix up everything, George W. Bush told us. Washington Post columnist E. J. Dionne says it’s not that simple:

In two elections this week, voters tossed incumbents out of power. One election made barely a ripple internationally. The other broke like a tsunami over the entire world. The response to each vote should teach us the danger of pretending that elections alone can make democracy happen.

In Canada’s quiet election, Stephen Harper ended more than a decade of Liberal Party rule.…

In the elections for the Palestinian Authority, the voters also rose up against the incumbents. But in the process, they gave a majority to Hamas, a party that has embraced terrorism and would obliterate Israel.

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From this tale of two elections, it’s possible to take the wrong lesson, which would be to walk away from America’s long if inconsistent quest to promote free elections and human rights. You don’t have to agree with Bush’s decisions to believe that an important goal of American foreign policy should be to expand the number of nations that live under democratic rule.

But since the invasion of Iraq, administration spokesmen and supporters have offered a utopian and decidedly unconservative view of how American power could be used to change the world — and quickly.

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The polls suggest that Hamas did not win because a majority of Palestinians bought into its terrorist program. Hamas won, precisely as Bush said, because voters were so unhappy with the status quo. But shouldn’t Washington ask itself why it didn’t take more dramatic steps, over a much longer period, to change the Palestinian status quo? Taking action in Iraq was not going to do the job.

A working democracy north of our border requires a degree of hope for the future now lacking among Palestinians. The Bush administration once thought it could take a holiday from complexity and remake the world through a few bold strokes. But democratization is hard, complicated and frustrating. It requires the patient building of institutions and attention to detail. There are no short cuts. You wonder if the president will come to terms with the flaws in his own status quo.

Hamas’ victory isn’t good news. But this was the first chance at a real election in a long time for the Palestinians. I like to hope that self-government, all by itself, can help give people a sense of civic responsibility. It doesn’t happen in a single election. It grows slowly, as hope grows that voters can influence their own destiny.

Hope I’m right.