printThe 15, turbulent months “since Mr Mubarak was forced from power” have been marred by “continued violent protests and a deteriorating economy.”
According to BBC News, “Foreign direct investment has reversed from $6.4bn (£4bn) flowing into the country in 2010 to $500m leaving it last year. Tourism, a major revenue generator for the country, has also dropped by a third.”
But, as members of the American chattering class will tell you—they had all tripped over one another to show-off their solidarity with the popular uprising in Egypt—none of this matters.
The Egyptian people are about to vote for a president, which, apparently means they have won the universal rights they fought for.
“I know nothing so miserable as a democracy without liberty,” wrote Alexis de Tocqueville in the mid-1800s. He speaks for me. I find myself unable to get lathered-up about democracy for others, while I live in the democratic despotism that contemporary America has become. Tocqueville “foresaw the coming of the social welfare state, which agrees to provide all for its subjects, and in turn exacts rigid conformity.” Above this race of conformist men “stands an immense and tutelary power, which takes upon itself alone to secure their gratification and to watch over their fate. That power is absolute, minute, regular, provident, and mild. … it seeks … to keep them in perpetual childhood.”
I am an American. I think America is the best in nearly every way. But, third world rat holes can’t be turned into “little Americas” no matter how hard we try. We should let our own self preservation be our guiding principle in foreign relations. Just like every other country. Americans are stupid if they think a bunch of throat cutters in the Middle East or tribal butchers in Africa are the same as we are. We are especially stupid to listen to political leaders who tell us differently. The world is kill or be killed. It’s not a “Leave It To Beaver or a Mickey Mouse Club rerun”.
Last night I came across your statement in Into the Cannibal’s Pot that was along the lines of “If George Bush had his way Mubarak would be gone and the Muslim Brotherhood would have taken over”. Prescient indeed. I worry about the family of my Coptic Christian friends.
Post-Mubarak Egypt: Rule of the Necrophiles.
When people who are unprepared for elected government go out an choose one, it will be around the same as a bunch of 6 year olds driving cars around town – it will not be pleasant, that’s for sure.
[Dr. Pauli: you want to put in an order for the softcover, b/c you are mentioned in the book, page 267.]