Jake Porter

The revolution that recently occurred in Egypt which overthrew their President Hosni Mubarak and his 30 year rule should be celebrated by Americans, but not influenced by our government.

After all, our country was founded upon the very idea that we should not be taxed without representation and that the government should not torture and abuse prisoners. Also, nothing is more American than the belief that people should be in control over their government which is what the people of Egypt demanded.

While many in politics and the media are busy claiming that the Muslim Brotherhood is going to somehow magically take over Egypt and establish a Taliban version of Sharia Law do not understand Egyptian society or Egyptian politics. For one, Egypt is far different that Iran was in the 1979 revolution that placed a theocratic regime in control and far different from the Mujahideen who fought to remove the former Soviet Union from Afghanistan. In fact, many Egyptians watched what occurred in both Iran and Afghanistan and will not repeat the same mistake. Additionally, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood did not initially support the protests in Egypt and are not the group that overthrew the Egyptian government. In fact, the Muslim Brotherhood has survived in large part due to the fact that it was extremely difficult for the Mubarak regime to stifle them in the Mosques where they operated. Unlike the Muslim Brotherhood, other opposition groups who operated outside the protection of the Mosque were prevented from becoming a threat. Third, the evidence the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood is anything like the Taliban or the Iranian regime is minimal at best. If free elections occur, the Brotherhood may make a faction of the government, but are unlikely to be part of a complete government takeover.

The people of Egypt wanted freedom and free elections and freedom and free elections is not the United States dictating who will lead Egypt. No, our track record of picking dictators has left us with regimes such as the Taliban and Saddam Hussein. Our best answer is to stay out of the internal Egyptian affairs. For one, any meddling we do may hurt our chances for future trade and will likely make the people of Egypt less likely to help us in the battle against terrorism. Additionally, we wouldn't want Egypt telling us who we were going to select to represent our government any more than America's founders liked England's attempt to dictate their policies on the colonists.

Jake Porter was a 2010 candidate for Iowa Secretary of State, is the owner of the Des Moines Free Press, and a former Alternate to the Libertarian National Committee. He resides in Des Moines.