Messy Democracy

De-moc-cra-cy - a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections.  We like "democracy" in the U.S., don't we?  I guess the current situation in Egypt and other parts of the Middle East, where people are just plain fed up with dictators, will be the proof in the pudding as to just how fond we are of it.  It seems that history shows that we are all for it within our own borders, but outside it really doesn't matter that much, as long as our interests are being served.  Is this another one of those instances?....we shall see.  Yes an unstable Middle East does pose a threat, as did an unstable Latin America.  But the issue at hand is not the price of gasoline or whether Al-Qaeda might find some new and friendly training ground.  The issue is freedom of ordinary Muslims of the Middle East, just like ordinary Christians of, say, Kansas.  And those ordinary folks have had enough with Hosni Mubarak, just like ordinary citizens of Nicaragua had enough of Somoza and ordinary citizens of Cuba had enough of Batista. Will the U.S. support freedom even when it comes as a potential threat to our economic or security interests? I hope so, but the tarnished history of our support for dictators in Latin America gives rise to a healthy degree of skepticism.  I heard a speech once by Obama that presumed that we would, but lately I have heard some insinuations to the contrary.  The truth is that freedom doesn't matter only within the borders of the U.S.A.  It matters everywhere.

A Shout Out for the Street Fighters of Cairo.....