Thomas Jefferson and Egypt

For almost 30 years, as long as Hosni Mubarak has been in control in Egypt, the United States has been trying to get him to loosen his grip and give Egyptian citizens some of the freedoms - speech and peaceful assembly above all - they deserve and have demanded.
Until this week the demands were muffled and quelled. And, Mubarak's autocratic determination to hold on to all power has been quietly acquiesed in by an America that needs Egypt because it has built its Middle East strategy around Egypt.
There are 80 million Egyptians, and 2 to 3 million of them are either police or military, most being supported with the 1.5 Billion US Dollars of annual American aid. That is the largest American aid package of any country on earth, except for Israel. Mubarak, understanding his importance, has always mouthed good intentions but held firmly to his absolute power. His governments are shams. It is Mubarak who governs absolutely and it is liberty-loving America that has looked the other way out of its perceived self-interest in keeping Egypt on its side in the Middle East.
That brings me to Thomas Jefferson, one of America's Founding Fathers who abhorred and feared powerful government and found few virtues comparable to personal liberty.
Jefferson once said, "A society that will trade a little liberty for a little order will lose both and deserve neither."
It is easy enough to apply that truism to Egypt and most of the Middle East.
But, think about it in terms of the United States. We have for generations traded liberty for order in South America and it has won for us the disgust of most Latin Americans who have chosen, instead, to do business with Russia and China. Only in Cuba, where we have stood up for freedom for 60 years, are we really respected.
Shift to the Middle East. Since World War II, we have made our bed with autocratic rulers all over the region. They take our money and depend on our military presence for their continued existence, but their rule has fostered rebellious youth and crafty terrorist movements. Only in Israel, where we are on the side of freedom, are we respected.
What are we to do? Continue to support autocrats who do not even understand the word "liberty." Maybe it is too late for anything else. But maybe, if we begin to refuse the trading of liberty for order in other countries, we might have a chance to regain our stature as the protector of liberty everywhere, even in the Middle East. Of course, that would mean developing our own natural resources and foregoing our soft dependence on Arab oil. But, we would sleep better at night, and we could then stand up firmly beside our natural allies,  including those repressed Middle East citizens who are crying out for liberty.