Revolutionary Conflagration

Often I have said that Barry Obama is not bold but now I am preparing to take that back. His speech in Cairo (June, 2009) basically said you have a friend in me.

He and Hillary have contributed to revolutionary conflagration through polite diplomacy, covert activity and splendid intelligence. The same government that for years fought socialism, propped up dictators, death squads, autocracy and repression seeming has made a sea change toward self determination. I think this is mostly Hillary's (the old hippie) doings and it is a risky move. If a string of theocracies emerge from protestation then we and the world are at a loss. If rudimentary democracies form, florish and evolve then the world learns and gains from the process.

Or, it's entirely possible that Barry and Hillary never had clue, our intelligence community failed again and once again our government is in reactionary damage control mode. It hard to tell from the stammering, tentative public statements issued over the last few weeks but then again this might have been a clever act designed to confuse the implacable right.

I do believe that Ron Reagan was directly responsible for the end of communism. He outspent the Kremlin on defense measures by such a margin he put our country into a permanent deficit spiral and bankrupt a fragile, unproductive communist economy. He also broadcast a wishful image of American prosperity that enraptured the proletariat with visions of pizzas, nike shoes and Chevrolets.

There may be a place on earth for many types of government. Tito was a good tyrant, Prince Rainier a good monarch and Bush a bad president. The linchpin is choice. Even if Mubarak was a benevolent autocrat, thirty years is just too much. Even FDR might have lost an election or he might have gone on forever but at least he was up for our approval or rejection. We want to belive that life is governed by choice but that may even be existential wishful thinking. I'm perfectly prepared to be Darwinian, nature on its own works very well, it's high minded creatures that construct implausible paradigms that is the problem.