To me, the Hobbesian state of nature unfolding now in Egypt is the colossal story of the current epoch. In our idealistic quest for political perfection, what sometimes happens? We create darkness. When we agree to see a regime deposed (or help push it over the cliff), it night well be that the successor regime will prove worse (think of Iran after the Shah fell in 1979 … and now, of course Egypt continuing). One big global problem for us is the binary declension in US foreign policy (good guys versus bad guys, democracy versus not). This is shown, yet again, to be delusional. So has our “support for democracy” – a limited ideal applicable only if the resulting winner is to our liking (as it was not in Palestine when Hamas won the election). Once again this “ideal” is shown to be hypocritical as well as dysfunctional. And here we have Egypt, the icon of the elite Arab world…converted into a feral jungle. We are always all so close to the edge of darkness. This is a tragedy with special lessons. – Tom Plate
