Tuesday, June 28, 2011

In Some Places The Ballot Box is Not the Final Answer

From the LA Times is this article on the situation in Egypt.  Reporter Jeffrey Fleishman, in Cairo, says:
Sensing the revolution that overthrew President Hosni Mubarak is slipping from their grasp, activists and opposition groups are pressuring the ruling military council to postpone Egypt's elections in September amid fears that Islamists and members of the former regime will gain too much power.
The term "Islamists" would refer to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Here is a comment from Law Professor Glenn Reynolds:
Wait, I thought they were misunderstood moderates?  But this is how it goes:  Kerensky could replace the Czar, but Lenin could replace Kerensky — and there was no one around who could replace Lenin, because Lenin made sure of that right off.  The liberal democrats should have killed him when they had the chance, but they hesitated, and he didn’t.
Does anyone remember Alexander Kerensky?  And, Lenin then joined the Great Majority and bequeathed us Stalin, who had a better PR Machine, but a worse record, than Adolf Hitler.

I think this fits in with the situation in Venezuela, where the Chávez regime and the Bolivarian Revolution is thinking past the ballot box.  The Miami Herald had a Sunday article on the situation in Venezuela, with President Hugo Chávez in serious condition in a Cuban Hospital.  The bother of President Chávez is quoted:
"As authentic revolutionaries, we cannot forget other forms of fighting," Adán Chávez said at a prayer meeting in Barinas, Venezuela, that was devoted to the health of his 56-year-old brother, who grew up there.

Quoting Latin American revolutionary icon Ernesto “Che” Guevara, he added: “It would be inexcusable to limit ourselves to only the electoral and not see other forms of struggle, including the armed struggle.”
Or, it could be Wisconsin we are talking about.

In politics it is never over.  The limit on action is our willingness to attribute humanity and good intentions to the other person and to believe that there is always "next year".

Hat tip to the Instapundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

  I need to dig out my copy of Mileposts and read it again, this time finishing it.
  I am beginning to wonder if I need to add a tag (label) for Wisconsin.

1 comment:

  1. The great myth about voting and its validity in societal decision making can be seen in the quote of Josef Stalin as reported in "The Memoirs of Stalin's Secretary" in which Stalin said, "You know, comrades," says Stalin, "that I think in regard to this: I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this — who will count the votes, and how. "

    I fear that even in "democracies" this is more the rule than the exception....even in the US..or in some instances...ESPECIALLY in the US.

    ReplyDelete

Please be forthright, but please consider that this is not a barracks.