Value judgments

The German State of Baden-Wurttemberg now requires new immigrants to answer thirty questions concerning their attitudes on a variety of issues. The test is specifically designed to filter out Muslims whose beliefs may not be compatible with prevailing German standards.
Although this exam is in written form, an applicant's answers do not summarily decide his or her allowance into Germany. That's a good thing, because some of the questions are a mite tricky.
Like this one: "What do you think about the following statement: 'Humankind has experienced nothing worse than democracy'?"
No less an authority than Winston Churchill said that 'Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." I myself sometimes think democracy is a great deal less than it's cracked up to be. The problem I have with democracy is simply this: a body temperature near 37 degrees Centigrade is all that's required to earn a stake in the future direction of a government. To me, a brain and a tendency to use it should be prerequisite to a franchise. But that's me. If I state that on this test, do red flags go up?
Question 23: "In your opinion, were those who carried out the 9/11 attacks terrorists or freedom fighters?"
Boy, that one's loaded, eh? It's pretty obvious how you are supposed to answer. And if I was taking this test, my honest answer would be 'both'. There's no doubt that we in the West think of al-Qaeda as terrorists, but it's vitally important to remember that a sizeable percentage of the world does not agree with us.
Question 30: "What do you think about homosexuals...working in state institutions?"
Well, I know what I think--so what? But there are people right here in Canada that have a problem with this. If they say so, are they blackballed? I hope not.

This test comes back to the nonsensical idea, championed in the recent Canadian election, that a country has "values". While it is true that democratic structures eventually grow to reflect their environments, those same structures safeguard minority beliefs. Or they're supposed to. That is, in fact, the whole point of democracy.
Then again, here in Canada, I sometimes wonder if we're teetering on this point of democracy. Paul Martin has referred to us as a "nation of minorities". As a proud Canadian, I object to that characterization. I find it needlessly divisive: to endlessly focus on our differences is to deny our essential sameness and fray the bonds of unity. Perhaps that explains why patriotism is waning, and why we've never been able to satisfactorily define what it means to be Canadian: it now means so many things that it really means nothing at all.