A friend of mine is part of a group that has convinced Sarah Lawrence University to give them credit for a student-led class; they’re calling it a democratic education collective: "we vote on everything." Now I could be a curmudgeon, but considering the people in Tunis and Egypt putting themselves in physical danger to secure the most basic democracy, I'm not in the mood to joke.
I am deeply curious to see how it turns out. When Obama nominated Elana Kagan to the Supreme Court, I had a chance to read her senior thesis from some university, a history of Socialist Party in New York City from 1914 to the 30s. It should be required reading:
One of the things it explores is the way democratic institutions become vulnerable to factionalism and infighting, especially if they don’t have a framework for resolving disputes. From Leon Trotsky to the characters on Glee, disagreements without satisfactory resolution can split the most united of revolutionary movements/fictional high school choirs in twain.
To bring this back to Egypt, a recent post at the U.S. Naval Institute's blog lays out a scenario in which a democratically legitimate government in Cairo could result in what the military calls with characteristic unintentional homoerotic subtext 'blowback':
I am deeply curious to see how it turns out. When Obama nominated Elana Kagan to the Supreme Court, I had a chance to read her senior thesis from some university, a history of Socialist Party in New York City from 1914 to the 30s. It should be required reading:
One of the things it explores is the way democratic institutions become vulnerable to factionalism and infighting, especially if they don’t have a framework for resolving disputes. From Leon Trotsky to the characters on Glee, disagreements without satisfactory resolution can split the most united of revolutionary movements/fictional high school choirs in twain.
To bring this back to Egypt, a recent post at the U.S. Naval Institute's blog lays out a scenario in which a democratically legitimate government in Cairo could result in what the military calls with characteristic unintentional homoerotic subtext 'blowback':
[There are] reports that Mohamed ElBaradei, the erstwhile UN Nuclear Watchdog, is looking to partner with the Muslim Brotherhood in the creation of a Unity Government in Egypt that does not include the National Democratic Party of current President Hosni Mubarak.The risk of that sort of thing is not reason enough to support a dictator like Mubarak, but it’s reason for us to be grateful for the American laws that prevent things like the Tea Party (or the 2000 election) from escalating into outright violence.
ElBaradei, a moderate secularist, partnering with an Islamist organization with questionable allegiances and associations, seems an unlikely alliance to be certain. ElBaradei has shown no inclination for ruthlessness in seeking power, while the Muslim Brotherhood has never shown the slightest tendency for compromise ... A coalition in which someone like Mohamed ElBaradei will be able to contain the ambitions of the Muslim Brotherhood has been tried before. In the dying days of the Weimar Republic...
This post was not intended primarily to compare the Muslim Brotherhood to the Nazis, but rather to illustrate the historical trend that moderates and extremists rarely share power for long.