Mubarak to Morsi - Just Another Dictator

Mohamed Morsi, the current President of Egypt and leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in that country has turned out to be a Hosni Mubarak clone, albeit one with a different group of iron-fisted supporters, and Egyptians have quickly come to realize that their initial flirtation with democracy resulted in a simple substitution of dictators. While Morsi has used his presidential position to insert himself on the stage of world diplomacy, his Muslim Brotherhood supporters have used their parliamentary power to impose strict religious law on Egyptian society, a society with a long tradition of social secularism and religious tolerance. Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood have both ignored the bread and butter issues (unemployment, civil services, food access and deteriorating infrastructures) that middle and working class Egyptians are most concerned about, and the growing frustration among the populace has triggered another wave of widespread demonstration across the country.

Tens of thousands of angry Egyptians have taken to the streets in that nation's largest cities this past week, the two-year anniversary of the public protests that led to the end of Mubarak's dictatorship. The marchers have demanded that Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood step down from their positions of power and leave Egypt, the same demands that protestors made of Mubarak two years ago, and the Morsi-led Muslim Brotherhood regime has responded with the same dictatorial show of force that Mubarak employed. It has labeled the protestors as rioters and criminal enemies of Egypt and deployed soldiers and police to disburse the crowds with tear gas and bullets.

If Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood thought they would remake Egypt into a theocracy like Iran, they're sorely mistaken, because despite living under decades of Mubarak's dictatorial regime, Egyptians have come to appreciate living in a society that is not governed by religious extremism. It's not that Egyptians are not a religious people. In fact, they are very religious. They have, however, come to appreciate that religious dictators are just as corrupt as secular ones, and they want no part of either type.

I'm rooting for those Egyptians protesting in the streets. They want a better life for all of their brothers and sisters. They want a life free from dictatorial oppression and religious intolerance. They want to be free to live life on their own terms. I wish them well!