Fresno Famous

There is a raging fire running throughout the world. It's the fire of democratization. When we all know the same thing at the same time and we're in the majority, we can make big change happen. Everybody in the world, if they have internet access, has access to the same body of knowledge as myself, here in America. They have the same Wikipedia, US government websites, Libraries, newspapers, Yahoo, etc. so they can look up the same general history of their country and learn, "hey, it's not fair to the people of any country to endure a dictator for 30 years!"

After that long I don't care who are, it's time to move on. In a democracy that position of chief executive is usually 5-10 years. Then it's time to elect somebody different. It's not a kingdom either. I thought Thomas Jefferson figured out all this stuff in the 18th century.

I think a lot of those people can get on a website and see just exactly what the US Declaration of Independence says. God-given human rights that every human in the world deserves to have. Like a democratically elected government. And freedom from tyranny.

Most of the criticism I've heard of the Arab Spring comes from the opposite ends of the political spectrum. One side says "if the USA/NATO has anything to do with it there must be something very sinister/stupid behind it."  At least that argument is consistent with a deeply held anti-war belief and I can appreciate it. But, the other end of the spectrum seems to find fault with a democracy movement that doesn't erupt from the barrel of a gun directed by conservative ideologues.

"Governments have need of both shepherds and butchers" - Voltaire 1694-1778 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltaire

Democracy is messy at times, especially when there's a deeply entrenched despotic tyrant like Bashar Al-Assad in Syria. And, maybe those religious groups who were oppressed all these decades will rise to the forefront once the dictator is deposed, but at least they have started down the road to democracy. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bashar_al-Assad: "A 2007 law required internet cafes to record all the comments users post on chat forums.  Websites such as Wikipedia Arabic, YouTube and Facebook were blocked intermittently between 2008 and February 2011.  

Human Rights groups, such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have detailed how Bashar's regime and secret police routinely torture, imprison, and kill political opponents, and those who speak out against the regime." 

Back in the good old days of the 2oth century these kinds of dictators could get away with murder for a lifetime. Or a couple of lifetimes. But, in this day and age of everyone knowing the same thing at the same time that shit won't fly. Because that shit ain't right.

From wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

This has been called "one of the best-known sentences in the English language"[4], containing "the most potent and consequential words in American history."[5] The passage came to represent a moral standard to which the United States should strive. This view was notably promoted by Abraham Lincoln, who considered the Declaration to be the foundation of his political philosophy, and argued that the Declaration is a statement of principles through which the United States Constitution should be interpreted.[6] It has inspired work for the rights of marginalized people throughout the world.