As difficult as it has been for our government to respond to what is going on in Egypt, we the people of the United States have to be in their corner because we have been there. How can we forget that we are born from revolution ourselves? We overthrew a pompous ruler who treated us unfairly, and now the Egyptians have done the same thing. Way to go Egypt, right? Then why does everyone here not seem to be so enthusiastic about it?
President Obama definitely came down on the side of the protesters well before Hosni Mubarak resigned, and that not doubt hastened the winds of change that the dictator must have seen as inevitable. Just as the writing was on the Berlin Wall, so too was it etched on the pyramids of Giza. The power of the people overcame the power and might of a strongman.
We have seen it before throughout history, but perhaps because this is the Middle East people are more worried about where this is ultimately going. People are thinking of the Iranian revolution which brought in something just as bad as it replaced, or perhaps the dismal prospects for democracy in war-ravaged Iraq and Afghanistan. Should we use these places as guides or should we not think that a different direction is in order?
Imagine how the Founding Fathers would see this revolution: would they not support their brethren freedom seekers? If Patrick Henry could say, "Give me liberty or give me death," should not the Egyptian people seek the same thing? Thanks to the immediacy of the Internet and the spirit and resolve of the Egyptian people, it did not take them years to overthrow their King George: they only needed seventeen days.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Baronius
The Founding Fathers weren't together on the revolution in France. The great split between Adams and Jefferson revolved around the French Revolution, with Jefferson in full support and Adams untrusting. A person can support liberty and still be cautious of, or oppose, a particular regime change.
2 - El Bicho
Sounds real nice but you have no way of knowing what the Founding Fathers would have thought of Egypt.
3 - Victor Lana
Absolutely true! It's just my opinion that some (probably not all as Baronius's comment makes clear) of the Founding Fathers would endorse this drive for freedom.
4 - Cindy
"Imagine how the Founding Fathers would see this revolution: would they not support their [own interests--read rich white male] brethren...[opportunists]?"
The founding fathers brought the interests of the wealthy to America, so they (the wealthy) could be free (as long as they were male). The gov't was designed to assure that the common man did not have a direct say in government, but so that bankers and others with wealth could rule and grow richer.
The country was founded giving lip service to freedom for all. The truth is, the word "all" specifically applied to only those whose freedom counted.
5 - roger nowosielski
Indeed, there have always been scoundrels among us, even among the Founding Fathers, as Baronius's comment makes clear!
6 - Cindy
I am disgusted by the founding fathers and what they actually stood for. But then again I never did get into that whole pledge of allegiance to a flag automaton training they dish out in every school. Guess it's hard for people to see clearly after 12 years or more of gov't brainwashing.
7 - troll
(any good news on the personal front, Cindy?)
8 - Paleoconservative with Secret Surname
Cindy, you might be interested in this article about Founding Father Benjamin Rush, which mentions his vehement opposition to slavery and his advocacy of education for women and free public schools.
I'm not sure how he would have come down on the French Revolution, as he was close friends with both Adams and Jefferson, and made efforts to mend the split that Baronius mentioned.
I hope the news troll seeks is good. ...sending you virtual chocolate for fortication...
9 - Paleoconservative with Secret Surname
News Flash! RON PAUL WINS CPAC STRAW POLL AGAIN!!!
Closer to one with a Benjamin-Rush-like spirit of a true Founding Father, you are not likely to get.
10 - roger nowosielski
The very fact you don't consider Ruvy a crank or at least a seriously disturbed person should automatically disqualify any of the sources you would recommend, Paeloconservative.
11 - Paleoconservative with Secret Surname
Put a sock in it, Roger.
12 - Clavos
Love the new handle, Paleo etc.
13 - roger nowosielski
FYI, my comment was addressed to an anonymous commmenter by willfully ignoring your true identity. I would have been much kinder were I to address you personally.
14 - Irene Athena
Yes, isn't it great, Clavos?
The handle AND...heh heh heh...the news about Ron Paul?
15 - Irene Athena
LOL, who else was going to be so jubilant about Ron Paul? The cat was out of the bag as soon as I became the first one on Blogcritics to make note of it!'
OK Roger, start addressing me personally, and being kinder to Ruvy. :)
16 - roger nowosielski
Ruvy's is digging his own grave, Irene. And since I'm not forcing his hand, I can only watch. In short, I don't find the hatred in his heart amusing, for which reason I refuse to humor him.
I'm glad, though, you have reasons to feel jubilant about developments on American political landscape. I'm more than certain that your optimism in this instance is grossly misplaced, but than again, I'll never be the one to deprive a person of their hope.
Just sayin'.
17 - Paleoconservative with Secret Surname
Maybe if Ron Paul--and others rejecting American imperialism abroad--gain the upper hand again, America will have its own PEACEFUL revolution.
* walks away whistling "Oh How Gloriously Appropos the Timing"...
18 - roger nowosielski
Now you're talking. You should have said it in the first place.
19 - Alan Kurtz
"We can't not believe in freedom for some and not for all," Victor writes. Too many double negatives there, methinks. To argue that we cannot not believe in something means we must believe in it, which runs counter to what Victor is clumsily trying to say. Or perhaps that qualifies as a Freudian slip by a writer and editor who subconsciously subscribes to a double standard after all.
20 - roger nowosielski
A literary construction, Alan. But it doesn't run counter to the intended meaning, regardless of what you or I may think about the felicity of it all, does it now?
21 - Alan Kurtz
Yes it does. And you are hardly an authority.
22 - Victor Lana
Thank you, Alan. Your comments always reaffirm my thoughts on a subject. You have a golden touch to be sure.
23 - roger nowosielski
And what makes you one except for being a sour puss?
24 - Alan Kurtz
Roger, I've never claimed to be anything other than a sour puss. If you don't believe me, just ask Victor Lana.
25 - Clavos
...Or anyone else who's ever been unlucky enough to have you cross their path..