I think that the United States should promote Democracy, and our “elected” leaders say they also value it. Note however that when it comes to actually paying respect to Democracies, its instructive to look at how Hugo Chavez and King Abdullah were greeted by the White House upon their deaths.
King Abdullah “had the courage of his convictions” while Hugo Chavez was mentioned only in so far as “the United States remains committed to policies that promote democratic principals and the rule of law”. Its too bad that we don’t value those things when it comes to Saudi Arabia.
This is of course driven by power and oil. Both are important oil producing countries, but one collaborates with the United States and the other does not.
