The Land That Time Forgot

If you have been staying abreast of events from the Middle East, then you are probably in agreement that as a whole, we've seen better days. Ironic isn't? But that's the state of affairs and we are all too accustomed to let downs and perennial dispappointment, after all, who are we kidding? I can't think of a single MidEast democracy where the rule of law is institutionalized protecting, among other things, rights of the individual, where there's a clear separation of church and state, as well as an effective structure of separation of powers, church, state and branches of government. In no state do all the above exist coterminously at one time - not in a single solitary Middle Eastern nation-state. And that includes Israel. Don't misread what is being said. To be sure, Israel DOES have an independant judiciary, there's ample evidence of that. And certainly there is a VIBRANT FREE PRESS that provides a voice for those, whether from the right or left, to be heard. And certainly the right to vote in free and fair elections is undisputed. But where Israel falls short is in its exclusive character by way of being a nation state reserved for a single religious paradigm. If u really think about American principles in terms of the No Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, Israel and countries like The Islamic Republic of Iran, Saudi Arabia are the very antithesis of one of the more AWESOME principles of AMERICAN JURISPRUDENCE, that is, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" - could governance in the name of a particular faith not be more un-American? Interestingly, one of the diseases that is the modern Middle East is that we are surrounded by fundamentalists of some faith or another. The Christian branch of the Abrahamic tradition is, at this time, and let me emphasize, AT THIS TIME, the lone voice of reason heard emanating from the regions spiritual heritage. Yes, the Christian church has its share of issues, but they are mostly 'domestic' in nature. Judaism and Islam on the other hand are in the throes of a tumultuous struggle, where reformers are pitted against radicals, with international implications for all. Martin Luther and company appeared to have settled the score along time ago for today's Christians. Of course, some will object and mention the Evangelicalism of the recent past. Do not fear the Evangelicals - before they are anything else, they are American, first and foremost. And while I wasn't born in this INCREDIBLE country, I have been here enough time to recognize Americans are not determined by a particular ethnicity, religion or national origin. Rather, Americans are a people with a fidelity to certain principles, including but not limited to the one enunciated in the Establishment Clause above. Returning to the remaining legs in the stool - they are more than just a little 'wobbly' if u know what I mean. Let's be honest - the often heard refrain that Israel is the lone democracy in the Middle East is not entirely honest, unless one is prepared to accept democracy as being compatible with religious supremacy. And while the Iran of Khatemi is undoubtedly a step in the right direction, who can deny that Iran's clerical establishment, although successful in ending the monarchy, today wield absolute power, replacing one form of despotism for another. But religious supremacy isn't by any means the most corrosive anti-democratic force suffocating reform and generating instability in the region. One cannot be but both embarrassed and frustrated considering that most people turning in for the evening in the modern Middle East tonight will awake tomorrow living in countries where political power rests in the hands of religious nuts, monarchies, despots or generals. And in these countries the tired and craven excuse of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is as stupid as it is untrue in being any justification for the absence of political liberaliztion. No my friends, whether it's the medieval exclusivism of Iran, Israel and their ilk, or the various so-called royal houses of the Arab world, the Middle East remains mired in the past, a backward universe that time has forgotten. Which is even more the reason why a stable, consitutionally progressive Iraq would represent a great victory for those of us who refuse to be resigned to this reality. Despite of the chaos and misery from which it was born, or perhaps more precisely, in spite of it, Iraq may yet be an example of the kind of political reform needed in the region. Democratic institutions married by religious pluralism. Dreaming is allowed.