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How Do you Keep a Wave Upon the Sand?

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That's the question the famous songwriting duo of Rogers & Hammerstein ask in The Sound of Music, and at first there doesn't seem to be any answer. Yet, if you think about it, the solution is obvious: Just replace it immediately with an identical wave.

We're seeing a thrilling tsunami of democratic popular uprisings around the world. What else is there to do but stand and cheer, and urge our government to help fan these flames of freedom into a conflagration.

First, there was the rising of the monks in Burma. The military junta beat them down, but now has been forced to accept the highest level of activity by democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in years. Suddenly, giant cracks in what had seemed an indomitable foundation of oppression began to appear.

Then, Benezir Bhutto was back in Pakistan, and the streets were thronged. Once minute she was under house arrest just like Suu Kyi, and the next minute she was defiantly free to resume her opposition activity. As the cowardly regime squirmed to prevent her from meeting with a supreme court judge it had deposed, its actions began to look much more like signs of weakness than of strength.

The next thing you knew, an army of courageous students had taken to the streets in Venezuela to protest the jackbooted rule of dictator Hugo Chavez, as he seeks to consolidate his power and become yet another "president for life." At least eight students have been injured as Chavez thugs opened fire on their gatherings. At a summit meeting in Santiago, the King of Spain told Chavez to "shut up" when he sought to disrupt the monarch's address.

And most recently, the streets of Malaysia have been flooded as thousands rally to demand fair elections, with hundreds facing arrest and water canons to struggle for democracy.

These events prove conclusively that the thirst of the people of the world for democracy and freedom continues to be as strong as ever. They prove the people of the world clearly understand the simple words of Bhutto: "It is dangerous to stand up to a military dictatorship, but more dangerous not to." As President Bush has said, the message of America must be equally strong and clear: "All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you." Who can doubt how crucial it is for the oppressed people of the world to hear this message? Who can name a country, should America's voice be silenced, which would take up that clarion call?

What's more, it can be argued that these activists are not only manning the front lines to defend our crucial values, they're also advancing our security interests. The Washington Post, for example, describes how Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf has actually undermined U.S. national security as much as he has protected it. Regime change there may be a major contribution to the success of the war on terror.

America, the world knows, is indispensable to the issue of democracy. It's time we acted like we knew democracy is just as indispensable to us.

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Comments


Vova says:

"America, the world knows, is indispensable to the issue of democracy. It's time we acted like we knew it."
Well, let's kick the Evil Empire out of G8 where it doesn't belong and stop inviting the Malignant Little Troll to family dinners in Kennrbunkport






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