The Egyptian Revolution

Unless you've been living under a rock since January 25th, you've seen the news coverage regarding the current near-civil-war in Egypt. The TV analysis of this conflict essentially boils down to these two questions:

1) Should the United States interfere in the conflict, to assist the Egyptian people in removing Hosni Mubarak from power?;

2) If Mubarak is removed from power, will his successor be even worse? Possibly someone supported by radical Muslim groups?

It must be understood that we, the United States, essentially put Mubarak into power. We believed we were 'helping' the Egyptian people by 'maintaining stability' in the Middle East. In order to avoid bloodshed, we gave the Egyptian people a dictator. We're now seeing the results of that decision.

Instead of interference, I believe the most compassionate course of action, one which will create the greatest long-term stability and the greatest degree of long-term freedom in Egypt, is to do nothing at all.

It is a fact that, even today, we benefit from a revolution where there was minimal outside interference. Our Founding Fathers fought a very long, very bloody, and very costly war of independence from a despot. Afterward, they created our form of government- one intended to prevent another despot from emerging, by instituting limits on the powers of government and guaranteeing the liberties of individuals- and as a failsafe, the Second Amendment, ensuring that the people would always retain the option to start another new government.

We should be thankful that France assisted us late in our Revolution- rather than 'helping us' by ending the war quickly and installing a pro-France dictator.

Thomas Jefferson said, of our own Revolution and future ones:

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

Please understand, I don't romanticize war. I write this with a heavy heart. I genuinely want what is best for the Egyptian people- and I believe that what is best for them, is to form their new government the way we formed ours. If we want to ensure that radicals won't seize power, and if we want to ensure another Mubarak won't emerge, then the Egyptian people must learn the lessons of freedom. They must fight a war so terrible, that they'll never want to fight it again.