Gratuitous advice to Egypt from Rudd

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it - good and hard. - H. L Mencken

The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd has not shied away from offering his pearls of wisdom to the Egyptian people on the running of their country, despite being incapable of organising something as simple as home insulation without killing workers, burning down a couple of hundred houses, then having to spend millions more having it undone.

None the less, he has seen fit to call for a ‘swift return to democracy’ there, despite the celebrations of the populace at the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood regime: 

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd has called for a swift return to democracy in Egypt, after the military ousted the country's president following days of street protests and bloodshed. … 

… Mr Rudd said the Australian government had strongly supported the Arab Spring democracy movements. He visited Cairo not long after the 2011 revolution that toppled former dictator Hosni Mubarak. 

Mr Rudd says he is aware of the controversies surrounding president Morsi's rule but says the latest developments are "extraordinary". 

"I would simply say on behalf of all Australians, we want to see the return to full democratic government in Egypt as rapidly as possible," he told reporters in Canberra on Thursday. "I believe that's the expectation of the international community.”

The major problems facing the Egyptian people have stemmed from the pressure on the military after the ousting of Mubarak to hold elections as soon as possible in the interests of creating a ‘democratic government.’ This came from the Egyptian people, anxious to exercise their choice, as well as the international community. 

The elections were held in a situation where after decades of repression, the only politically organized groups were the Islamists.  As result the nation voted in an Islamist government and president who then instituted an Islamist constitution and appeared hell bent on instituting theocratic rule over a largely secular population.

There is a common misconception in the West and elsewhere which confuses democracy with personal liberty. After years of seeing our liberty being incrementally eroded under a succession of democratically elected governments, it is reasonable to think that we would know better by now, however democracy seems to be the sacred cow, at the alter of which freedom is sacrificially slaughtered.

The reality is that the Egyptian people may well retain a great deal more freedom under military rule, than they would have under a democratically elected theocratic government of Islamofascists.

Rudd should get on with holding our own election in which we can tip him and his moribund mob out of office and let the people of Egypt sort out their own mess in their own way, in their own good time.