Iranian Election

So I have been watching the Iranian election the last few days, and also the reaction to it.

First off, to all of those people who say that the President must take a stronger stand on the whole thing, I say shut it. An election is an entirely internal matter for any country. How would we like it if during the 2000 or 2004 Presidential election, other countries tried to get involved? How would we have reacted if France, Italy, Russia, England, etc had come out and said “the election is a fraud” or something similar? I have a feeling it would not have gone over too well. Just because we consider ourselves the “beacon of freedom” doesn’t mean that we have to comment on every single election that any other country has.

I applaud the President’s restraint in his comments about getting involved with the Iranian election in any way. I think people often forget that our interference in Iran is a big reason that Ahmadinejad was even given the opportunity to get into power in the first place. Getting involved in other countries’ elections can lead to very bad things and honestly should rarely, if ever, happen.

What we are seeing in Iran right now, is part of the evolution of becoming a democracy. The people there have had enough, and are finally starting to realize the power that they have. This is how revolutions begin. People get tired of being constantly under the leash and this is the result. We went through the exact same thing, as well as every other democracy in the world. It’s a slow process, and one that isn’t always neat and clean, cut and dry.

The best thing to do is to wait and see. Getting involved will only add fuel to tensions that already existed, especially given past involvement.