by Reggiw
A great man once said that “the true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity”.For better or worse, Hosni Mubarak has exited stage left. He’s not the first leader in the Middle East to be ousted by a populist movement to form a democratically elected government and he probably won’t be the last.
How can any patriotic American look at what’s going on in Egypt now and not feel good about it? When you look at the mass of humanity throughout Egypt that is currently celebrating its apparent victory in its grassroots movement to depose their dictator, what American can’t feel good about this? We’re talking about a dictator that had been raping that country of its riches and natural resources for the last 30 years, aren’t all Americans rejoicing? Isn’t democracy around the world what all Americans should want?
Democracy is a political form of government in which governing power is derived from the people, by consensus, by direct referendum, or by means of elected representatives of the people. You know, kinda like what we got going on here in these United States of America.
In the past, our leaders have preached democracy to every nook and cranny and corner of the world. Our leaders have claimed to have gone to war just so we could bring our form of Democracy around the world. To make the world free, like we are... supposedly.So one would think that since we live in a democratic country, that our leaders would want to see free democratic elections in Egypt...right?!?
Wrong.
Neo-conservatives such as Glenn Beck, Ralph Reed, John Bolton, Dick Cheney, Mike Huckabee, Rush Limbaugh, Richard Cohen and last but not least, pseudo black man and newly elected Congressman Allen West; all clearly and boisterously aligned themselves with Hosni Mubarak of Egypt. What’s wrong with this picture? Don’t they love freedom too? In yet another effort to snatch hypocrisy from what should be a feel good story about a political ideal that they’re all supposed to stand solidly for. These men stood for a dictator, rather than with a people attempting to get their own legitimate democracy, that reeks of political hypocrisy!!!
Why? Well maybe they have a point? Our government officially favored fair and free elections in Palestine, until the Palestinians elected Hamas to represent them. Then we decided that it wasn’t such a good idea. Despite the present feel good story, tomorrow could be a vastly different reality. A democratically elected government could mean a Shari’a law based government. The Shari'a, or Islamic law, defines the rules of traditional social behavior. Some call this type of thing the very basis of radical religious Islam. Shari'a ("way" or "path") is the sacred law of Islam. If the Egyptian people turn to this, you’ll see many of the “freedoms” enjoyed by Egyptian women now come to an end. You’ll see more women wrapped from head to toe in those “bee keeper” outfits. We’ll see more bearded Egyptian men and in all likelihood a not so quite “pro-American government…..like we’ve seen in the past; and that’s only IF, the Egyptian military gives up the power they now have in favor of a democratically elected government.
Although I personally would support our Egyptian brothers and sisters’ right to form whatever form of government they’d like, it could end up being a massive shit sandwich for American interests in the Middle East; and it could come without the benefit of cheese or ketchup. We might just end up taking a big bite.Can you imagine what would happen if this movement for democracy ran rampant through the Middle East and if all of those people in those many countries opted for governments based on Shari’a law?!?
We’re Americans though; shouldn’t we all be for Democracy?!?
