It is neither malicious nor cynical to warn that no prospect of an Arab Spring" exists amid the current culture of that region.
In 1776 the thirteen American colonies declared themselves free and independent states" and during the decade following emerged victorious againstGreat Britainin the Revolutionary War. They then proceeded to ratify the Constitution thereby establishing the fledgling United States of America." And although that era was marked by its own series of trials and challenges the nation overcame them and was thus set on the course to eventually becoming a world power.
Bolstered by the glorious success of the Americans the revolutionaries ofFrancedecided to undertake their own societal makeover expelling the monarchy and eschewing such mundane and inconvenient traditions as the Church. In their place these revolutionaries established a government of citizens" espousing liberty equality and brotherhood" as their defining ideals. The Judeo-Christian ethic which had guidedAmericas founders in their creation of the Constitution was merely an inconvenient impediment to the philosophically superior French. Surely in the absence of those stodgy clerics and their dreary thou shalt not" proscriptions the freedom and happiness of the common people could be expanded to a degree never imagined even by the Americans.
To their dismay these utopian dreams quickly succumbed to the pitfalls of human nature" about which our race has been forewarned ever since the days of Cain and Abel. By 1793 only four years after their joyous July 14 1789 storming of the BastilleFrancehad slipped into the Reign of Terror" during which more than thirty-five thousand citizens were executed as Enemies of the Revolution" amid squalor and depredation. Within the short span of another ten years egalitarian"Francefell once again back under the oppressive fist of a tyrant Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.
The lesson to be learned from those starkly dissimilar situations is that a healthy prosperous and truly free society does not spontaneously erupt as a consequence of democracy." The liberties enjoyed by the American people had been enshrined by the Founding Fathers who first recognized them as a gift from The Almighty and then endeavored to put in place a governing system that would stand as a firewall against any encroachments on them. Government did not bestow" rights. Rather it protected those rights given by God. Merely emplacing leaders in government by majority rule does not guarantee the rights" of anyone except those powerful and influential enough to utilize the power of government to their own advantage.
Amid the nightmarish reports coming daily fromEgyptand elsewhere in the Middle-East this timeless lesson should once again be apparent. Unfortunately for the political left it is still as inconvenient to their agenda as it was back in the days of Louis XVI. Consequently the experts" are once again desperately searching for an explanation of what happened to that celebrated Arab Spring" which was promising so much hope and change to the region only two years ago.
The answer is simple but also politically incorrect" which virtually guarantees that although the facts glare at us from the streets of Cairo Tripoli and Benghazi liberal politicians and their media parrots will go to any lengths to ignore them or if needs be suppress them altogether. In stark contrast to the tenets of Christianity Islam does not foster a societal climate in which the rights of the weak are enshrined and defended against the abilities of the strong to crush them. Hence in the aftermath of the 2011 removal of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak from power governing policy became the realm of the Muslim Brotherhood." And although Obama Administration Intelligence Chief James Clapper assured us that the Muslim Brotherhood" was a largely secular organization its Islamist moorings soon became apparent.
As was the case in revolutionary eraFrance the oppressive conditions on the street rapidly degenerated to far worse than those that had spawned the unrest in the first place. Once again the citizenry rose up in massive numbers voicing its indignation and disapproval. Eventually with the collaboration ofEgypts military the massive uprising resulted in the ouster of Mohamed Morsi Mubaraks successor.
Still the violence and bloodshed continues. The latest reports fromCairotell of a resurgence of Islamist sentiment leading to escalating clashes between pro-Morsi forces and those who advocated his overthrow. In one instance a confrontation between the army and a gathering of Islamist protestors ended in more than fifty deaths and four hundred injuries. And no end of this mayhem is in sight.
Despite the erudite proclamations of leftists in academia and government it is not the mere yearning for freedom" even if such sentiments are held be a majority of the populace which spontaneously generates liberty and justice in a society. The burning quest for that ability to define ones own life must be tempered with the moral quality of recognizing when such a desire wrongly encroaches on others and a comprehension of the importance of abiding by such boundaries out of respect for a fellow human being. Otherwise the situation quickly degenerates into Darwinian terms by which the physically strong oppress the weak. And no series of subsequent mob uprisings will magically construct a working system of just laws and mutual respect.
UnfortunatelyAmericais in the process of descending down this very path. Liberal institutions insist that the vaunted premise of separation of Church and state" demands that all religious (Christian) principle be purged from public presence public awareness and even the foundation of any law. Nevertheless evidence of the abject failure of this approach abounds. It should be painfully obvious to all but the most ideologically blind countercultural leftists that as such guiding precepts have been expunged from American society the general quality of life has degraded accordingly.
It is neither malicious nor cynical to warn that no prospect of an Arab Spring" exists amid the current culture of that region. As the Middle-East increasingly rejects Western values and in particular its Judeo-Christian underpinnings the region will see a steady decline of any recognition of human rights which have succeeded in elevating Western Civilization as far back as the thirteenth century Magna Carta and culminating in the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights. Closer to home it is imperative that Americans reawaken to their own heritage lest they likewise lose it. They would not be the first to experience so tragic a fate.