Top Ten Wednesdays: How are we promoting democracy in the Middle East?

10) By supporting the right of Middle Eastern people to have a say in their own political futures and elect the governments that they want, rather than live under the yoke of dictatorship!

9) Unless that government is, you know, a little Muslimy.

8) Look, we were founded under the written principle of all men are created equal, but we have an unwritten part we also follow, that some men are more equal than others. (Okay, that part used to be written, too.)

7) The problem with giving power to the people is that you sometimes get people in power that you don’t like, and while we support freedom, there has to be some limits.

6) It’s not that we won’t recognize governments that are run by Muslims, we just prefer that they act a little more Christian.

5) Even better, why not have Egypt be led out of the desert of oppression to the milk and honey of democracy by a nice Jewish boy?

4) But if that can’t happen, it’s not a bad idea to have someone who’s been Western-educated hold freedom down until it’s ready to grow up.

3) Someone like a president who will step down but not leave office. Or a general. Or maybe a shah, which sounds so glamorous!

2) Because if we’re not careful, what’s happening in the Middle East could happen here, the way it did 235 years ago.

1) Finally, if there’s one thing we know about American foreign policy, it’s this: You can’t harvest freedom without spreading a lot of fertilizer first.