Sir, – Asode Gorm (August 20th) must not realise that democracy is a fundamentally flawed concept. Many leaders across the world have been disappointing and have even flouted the democratic process after their election. This does not legitimise their overthrow by the military who are completely unaccountable to the people and completely self interested.
Does Mr Gorm believe George Bush should have been overthrown by a putsch, having lost the popular vote to Al Gore: or perhaps Barack Obama should be overthrown as he flouted the democratic process by the surveillance of his own citizens?
Respecting democracy means respecting the terrible decisions as well as the great ones. Was Mr Morsi a great democrat? I don’t believe so, but the solution was to vote him out in the next election or peacefully protest. A military coup is always a military coup and can never be legitimised. – Yours, etc,
HUGH O’DONNELL,
Sandymount Road,
Sandymount,
Dublin 4.