The Westphalia style nation state (truly - is there another?) maintains the state must maintain and provide all kinds in infrastructure
The shorty short is "governance" is what a "government" does
So now that Arab Spring has sprang new govs into power - the responsibilities of state are way more than being opposition parties - in effect - now they must govern
Will they craft a government that stands for ideals diametrically opposed to those upheld by Great Satan? They might. But if they do, we should not consider them stupid or infantile. We should recognize that they have made a free choice—a choice to reject freedom as the West understands it.Polislam! A politization of m"Hammedism with all it"s 7th century charm?
Utopian ideologies have a short lifespan. Some are bloodier than others. As long as m"Hammedists were able to market their philosophy as the only alternative to dictatorship and foreign meddling, they were attractive to an oppressed polity. But with their election to office they will be subjected to the test of government. It is clear, as we saw in Iran in 2009 and elsewhere, that if the philosophy of the m"Hammedists is fully and forcefully implemented, those who elected them will end up disillusioned.
The governments will begin to fail as soon as they set about implementing their philosophy: strip women of their rights; murder gays; constrain the freedoms of conscience and religion of non-m"Hammedists; hunt down dissidents; persecute religious minorities; pick fights with foreign powers, even powers, such as Great Satan, that offered them friendship. The m"Hammedists will curtail the freedoms of those who elected them and fail to improve their economic conditions.
After the disillusion and bitterness will come a painful lesson: that it is foolish to derive laws for human affairs from gods and prophets. Just like the Iranian people have begun to, the Egyptians, Tunisians, Libyans, and perhaps Syrians and others will come to this realization. In one or two or three decades we will see the masses in these countries take to the streets—and perhaps call for American help—to liberate them from the governments they elected. This process will be faster in some places than others, but in all of them it will be bloody and painful. If we take the long view, America and other Western countries can help make this happen in the same way we helped bring about the demise of the former Soviet Union.
We must be patient. America needs to empower those individuals and groups who are already disenchanted with political m"Hammedism by helping find and develop an alternative. At the heart of that alternative are the ideals of the rule of law and freedom of thought, worship, and expression. For these values there can and should be no apologies, no groveling, no hesitation.lam by helping find and develop an alternative. At the heart of that alternative are the ideals of the rule of law and freedom of thought, worship, and expression. For these values there can and should be no apologies, no groveling, no hesitation.
Pic - "A fully crunk fundie gov may no longer be seen as an alluring mythical alternative to the wretched reality of Arab regimes in which people live - In Iran and the Strip - fundamentalism IS the wretched reality in which people live."
