Democratic Dominos

I don’t know about you, but seeing and hearing about the Domino Effect that has started through the Middle East, starting with Tunisia, is something amazing to behold. The power of technology is empowering those people. It has empowered many to make the world a better place for them and ultimately for everyone.

Most of us can agree that a free Democracy is the way for the populations of the world to find true prosperity. A free democracy gives all of its people the political power to forge the future for themselves. It is a powerful and empowering method of government in which I believe that all of the people of the world deserve.

So did many others, especially FOX news. Years ago they fought, and pushed, and said that democracy is something that everyone should have. That people all over the world have the right, as do we, to be free in a truly free democratic society. So now why is there a sudden backlash from the Right Wing headed by FOX news to downplay the amazing uprisings taking place in these areas? It seems their hypocrisy knows no bounds.

We literally invaded a country without being provoked on the grounds of “defense” and later justified our misled invasion as spreading democracy throughout the world. When anyone questioned the actions or the motives of the Bush Administration and the Iraq War, they were attacked as traitors, unpatriotic and weak. Now there are countries that are trying to bring democracy into their own countries and they balk, sidestep and even question these other countries on their worthiness or ability to handle a free democracy. It’s absolutely crazy.

Are the American people’s memories so short that they cannot remember only a few short years ago? It’s not like we’re relying on history books or drawings on a cave wall. We KNOW what happened. We all lived through it. So why then is there such discourse in such a simple fact, that we were all supposed to agree on, that everyone, EVERYONE deserves a free democracy. In a free democracy the people have the power to make their country into what they want, what works best for them and will give everyone a say in how things are done.

I know, they talk about oil prices going up. They talk about trade changing and uncertainty. There is uncertainty because we have supported the regimes there for years. We’ve ignored the boot on the peoples’ backs as long as we can get cheap oil. Enough already. It’s time to stop greed from ruling our every decision. This newest argument, the one asking if they can “handle” democracy needs to stop. We need to support all people that are fighting and dying for human rights.

It’s also time to realize that whether we lose the oil today or in 50 years we will most certainly, and assuredly lose the oil. This is why we must act now to improve our own energy policies and move toward renewables. We must start to wean ourselves off oil. We must stop oil and gas subsidies and transfer these to renewable energies. The oil and gas companies really don’t need subsidies. They make billions of dollars in profit every month, and are so greedy they apparently can’t spend a small portion of that on decent blowout preventers on their oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.

So please take a step back and look at the big picture. We, as the flagship of freedom and democracy set the precedent and hold ourselves to the highest standard of these ideals. We must also support and foster these democratic ideals worldwide.

We must support human rights both here and abroad. We must push this country to a sustainable future, so we don’t have to support these horrible regimes which are antithesis to our very being. When we do what is right by us, we will do right by the world. When we do right by the world, we will then have the right kind of world for all of its people.