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Deeply Unrealistic Democratism (III)

Since Raimondo wants to keep score, it’s worth noting that I also wrote this: One reason that it makes no sense is that Mubarak, his party, and his military backers most likely aren’t going anywhere. Even if Mubarak were to step aside personally, which I doubt, the regime apparatus behind him isn’t going to give […]

Since Raimondo wants to keep score, it’s worth noting that I also wrote this:

One reason that it makes no sense is that Mubarak, his party, and his military backers most likely aren’t going anywhere. Even if Mubarak were to step aside personally, which I doubt, the regime apparatus behind him isn’t going to give up its power.

It’s true that I doubted that Mubarak was going to leave. When I wrote that, three days after the protests had begun, that seemed reasonable. So, yes, I got that wrong along with maybe 90-95% of observers. The larger point that the regime behind Mubarak wasn’t going anywhere seems to have been basically correct.

When all of this started last month, Raimondo wrote:

Before we start cheering this world revolution as the salvation of us all, however, it ought to be remembered that revolutionary regimes often turn out to be worse than the tyrannies they’ve overthrown. There’s no telling what direction these political insurgencies will take, either in the Middle East or in America.

That is largely what I have been saying during what he calls my “weeks-long campaign against Egypt’s democracy movement.” It’s the sort of thing that genuine conservatives have been arguing for quite some time, and it’s a lot more sensible than celebrating political upheaval. It is also what Raimondo was constantly arguing in opposition to Western media-driven hysteria over every “color” revolution that broke out over the last decade. There was a time when Raimondo found it embarrassing that Americans would cheer for the cause of foreign political factions that they didn’t fully understand. Now that it is useful to cheer on a revolution because it happens to target the “right” kind of government (i.e., one allied with the U.S.), Raimondo is as enthusiastic as any “freedom agenda” booster.

Update: Srdja Trifkovic has two columns on Egypt at Chronicles‘ website. In another piece, he argues to beware “neocon advocacy of Egyptian democracy.”

Second Update: Raimondo has a typically petty response. Since I have admitted that I was wrong in saying on January 28 that Mubarak would stay in power, there isn’t much more to say about that. Cheering on revolution and democratization regardless of the circumstances or consequences is mindless, but that is what Raimondo has been doing. It has nothing more to do with serving the interests of the United States or the cause of peace than the “freedom agenda” did. It shouldn’t matter whether it is the U.S. government that is pushing for democratization or not. The dangers remain the same, and it is just as foolish to ignore those dangers when talking about Egypt as it was to ignore them in Iraq.

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