As President Morsi was being removed from office by the Egyptian military, I couldn’t help but wonder if we should be learning something from the experience.
First, what was the authority used by the military for removing an elected President? The world is being careful not to use the “coup” term to describe what happened, but is there another, more appropriate, word? Of course, “coup” brings into play several foreign aid and recognition provisions that would be uncomfortable so that might explain some of the selective blindness we see around the world. It is political after all.
Secondly, what was the authority used by the military to choose the new President? And, what was their authority for throwing out the new Constitution? Again, if not a “coup” then what should this political event be called? And, with respect to the Constitution, wouldn’t it be better to write or rewrite the Constitution before electing the next President and avoid as much of the conflicts of interest in the process?
Thirdly, could something like this ever happen here in the United States? Let’s have a look. The problem with the Egyptian Presidency was said to be its domination by the Muslim Brotherhood’s ideology. It is said that their ideology was responsible for much of the economic downfall and collapse of infrastructure throughout the country. Whether this is accurate or not really doesn’t matter because if the people believe it – it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
When we turn our attention to the United States and ask if the Egyptian experience could be repeated here, we get a rude awakening by the sight of ideologies of all descriptions dominating our political landscape. The two most powerful ideologies are the Democrats and the Republicans, and we are probably lucky that neither of them is dominated by a single religious following like the Muslim Brotherhood because we would be experiencing some of the same governmental overreach if that were the case.
When we really think about our situation, we aren’t very far removed from the problems which plagued Egypt. We might do well to take a lesson and kick our ideologues to the curb before things get any more polarized.
The sausage grinder is broken, will you help to fix it?
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