Democracy In Egypt

In Tunisia and Egypt we have seen unprecedented spontaneous popular revolts against moribund dictatorships. What kind of hubris makes a person think that they can rule over millions of their fellow citizens for decades without elections? These leaders not only rob the national wealth of their countries, they steal the national soul.  Whenever the people rise up to throw off their chains of oppression it is a time for the rest of the world to support and applaud their efforts.

It is time for the American people to support these movements.  Dr. Martin Luther King famously battled with President Kennedy and then President Johnson regarding civil rights reform.  Both leaders urged patience cautioning that the time was not yet right.  There is a famous picture of Johnson and King together at the White House and you can tell from that image things are not going well.  They are disagreeing as to the pace of reforms.  But, those reforms came in their own good time. 

I have been disturbed to hear how it is not in the best interest of the United States for Mubarak to be kicked out of office. Some say that it will destabilize the region and cause problems for Israel.  I do not buy that.  It is immoral, it is evil, to stand in the way and block the will of the Egyptian people as they struggle to throw off their oppression.  Years ago my ancestors strove to throw off the oppression of another Egyptian leader - Pharaoh.

If Mubarak is not removed from office he will go onto punish those who have participated in the uprising and take evasive action to prevent further revolt in the future.  Egypt is not his private fiefdom.  The future of Egypt is not dependent on Mubarak and he is not the savior of the Egyptian people.  They will save themselves if he will only get out of the way. They will save themselves if we gave them our support.