Let the dominoes continue to fall...

It has been interesting and exciting to see the spread of protests for democracy and human rights in Middle East countries. First with the revolt in Tunisia that sent the dictator fleeing to Saudi Arabia, the scatter of incidents of protest throughout the dictator-controlled countries of North Africa and the Middle East, and now with the mass demonstrations in Egypt.

My thoughts pretty much can be summed up in the sentence, "Good riddance to all dictators."

It also could be said that it is never wise for American leaders to hold hands with world dictators.

It is also interesting for dictators to realize that they can't control people or media technology forever. Technology can give an edge or at least even the playing field, as Martin Luther must have realized when he used the fairly-new technology from the mid-1400s called the printing press to get his message out and to rally support for what would become the Reformation of the early 1500s. In Tunisia, WikiLeaks provided information about governmental corruption and brutality and then cell phones and the Internet including Facebook and Twitter allowed people to communicate, network, and organize a resistance. The same technology and process can be used time and time again against the choke-hold of dictators and to free the masses.

Beyond that, it has been interesting to see many of the places in Cairo where I visited in 2002. Even then, I wondered why the millions of poor people there as well as the educated and intellectuals who were afraid to speak freely didn't throw Mubarak out. Mubarak lasted longer than I thought. He lasted way too long, as being iron-fistedly in control for 30 years.

Some Americans may look at leaders like Mubarak and others as being moderate and ones we can work with, so that apparently means it is okay for them to abuse their people. I don't think that way. I see nothing good about the rule of dictators. They are still dictators. They still use the authority and power of the state against others, often unfairly, often unjustly.

The pyschology of being a dictator must be an interesting study. Mubarak and others must actually think that they are doing the good of the people in holding their nations together, keeping them from slipping into chaos, keeping them out of the hands of religious zealots. Certainly, chaos and anarchy would be bad. Somalia is an example of that. Certainly, theocracies are bad where religious law rules over political law. Iran is an example of that. But why would an autocrat, a dictator who has jailed people for conducting sociology surveys or for speaking their minds, think that the people would love them? The people, who have to live under them, hate dictators. Mubarak and maybe even U.S. President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton, seemingly slow to embrace a people's movement when it also means dislodging a leader ally, don't seem to get it that the people, after 30 years of torment, don't want Mubarak's conciliations now or any part of his ideas for suddenly moving into more democratic governing. They want him out of there. The right side of history is with the demonstrators and those who support democracy. Mubarak will be fortunate if he leaves before they put him on trial. But for now, Mubarak must be living in some great delusional myth that he, as a dictator, was the best thing for his nation.

As the flood tactics in Tiananmen Square in China worked only until the Communist leaders brutally ordered military force and civilian murder, the flood tactics in Tunisia and Egypt, so far not becoming the target of violence from the military, are working.

Let the dominoes continue to fall.