Be careful what you wish for

With unrest in Lebanon, Tunisia, Egypt, and now Jordan. Some may think that other countries should follow this lead and overthrow their governments in order to usher in democratic reforms. Governments are also scrambling, trying to prevent these problems from spilling across their borders.

Not that I am against change, but a sudden overthrow of many governments may not be what we all want. On average, a dictator is almost always better than chaos. In the 'good old days,' Saddam kept the violence down by getting rid of troublemakers. Even at present, the Saudis are very effective in keeping order by rooting out troublemakers. Democracy requires that we allow these people a say in government, but herein lies the problem... incorporating all idiots into the process doesn't make the process better, it just makes it more fair. Fairness doesn't ensure a successful rule, in fact it sounds like a horrible idea. Just look at the political problems back home (either California, or the USA) for an example.

Inexperienced leaders trying to incorporate diverse opinions and rule by consensus in unruly countries just doesn't sound like a great idea to me. No representative can represent all of the interests of all of their constituents... it is simply impossible. Someone will always be left out, and someone will always have a grievance against government. I'm not against overthrowing a government to remove a bad leader - this is the essence of the democratic process. I am against the results of such large scale civil unrest. These are; crumbled states wherein all suffer a lack of general security, reduced infrastructure capacity, threats of violence from extremist groups, a false belief that democracy will solve all problems, and an eventual return to strong-man style leadership.

Don't accuse me of being a Pollyanna.