Wrong Lesson Learned

Meanwhile back in Iraq elections have been held. The man we hand picked to run the country when "democracy" was introduced, al Maliki, has apparently lost.

Election observers, including those from the UN, have stated the few irregularities noted were not of enough significance to require a recall. Yet al Maliki insists on crying "foul". According to the London Telegraph the ink wasn't even dry on the ballots before his supporters were calling for a return to sectarian violence.

He learned a lesson well. It's just the wrong one. It worked for Karzai in Afghanistan to the point where his opponent withdrew from a run off allowing him to win by default. It worked for Ahmadinejad in Iran. People are still losing their freedom over that one!

It's interesting to me how we seem to following their lead rather than the other way around. When our politicians overstate common slang into incitement to violence, we're on the wrong track. This past nonpartisan conflict over health care shows that the pols have little interest what the people think. More, they worry about their place in the power structure. Not unlike those pesky Middle Easterners.

Too, just like their people, ours are beginning to protest more vigorously. Like their people, ours are tired of being ignored and if polite discourse won't get it done more drastic measures will be taken.

There seems to be a pattern of similarities developing here. We should all be concerned. So far we have managed to solve such conflicts at the ballot box without physical conflict yet we're being pushed. If the administration and the party in power doesn't take a good look at themselves to see why the people are so angry rather than pointing fingers, the power may well shift. In those Middle Eastern countries, when that happens, those fingers might well be whacked off as retribution.

Saying we've got someone in the cross hairs or someone is targeted, in the context it was meant, is child's play in comparison.

Can we all grow up now?