Falling One By One

Another President's Day has come and gone. President's Day is one of those holidays that people notice only if there some major event related to a democratic government with a freely elected president. We have had a fair share of good presidents the past few years. Bill Clinton was surely an effective and positive president. And we have had the worst types too, as in George Bush Jr. But forget our presidents for a moment because president's day has made we in the U.S. more aware of what we don't have, the thugish dictatorship that is found in so many nations world wide.

This President's Day it was amazing and wonderful to see the protests and demands against the dictators of so many Arab nations in Northern Africa and the Mid east. Has the fall of Mubarak in Egypt become the catalyst for the until now passive citizens of Islamic nations to finally declare to their dictators that using a religion, Islam, as a pretext to control an entire population isn't going to play anymore. The Dominos seem to be falling, and with each one that does collapse the world has more freedom and is a safer place than before. With the replacement of a dictatorship and the implementation of a more representative government Islamic terrorism also loses some of its constituency.

I doubt that the fundamentalist extremism of the Islamic terrorist will make much sense or have much appeal to people who also see a real future and freedom to act in their own countries. al Quida and the like must be in distress at what is happening in the Arab world. For too long the Islamic dictators have protected and abetted the renegade terrorist groups. Removing those dictators can't be a good thing for Fundamentalism.

The Internet and other communication modes that bring information quickly and are much more free from censorship may have condemned the ignorance of extremism to take its place in the intensive care ward. It's almost inevitable that a people who see a more free, more affluent, more opportunity oriented and better lifestyle in democratic nations displayed every day would finally say "enough" to their antideluvian dictaorships. It's a goof imitation of the fall of the old Eastern European is dictatorships in 1989. See how they fall , one by one. How glorious for all of humanity.

I'm not announcing the death of dictators in the Muslim world, but surely what will eventually replace the long reigning thugs will be a more democratic and representative that will give Arabs who live in those countries a reason to reject extremism. Perhaps one day countries like Egypt will have their own President's Day celebrations to remember their own past democratic leaders.