Jonathan

Steve has a great post about evil dictators and the lefty jerks who enable them. He is discussing Cuba rather than Iraq but the principle is the same.

Speaking of Cuba, what really frosts me is those ads for tour excursions, where they talk about the decrepit old cars as though these were manifestations of some quaint custom — perhaps a Latin version of the New England covered bridge — rather than tragic reminders of a wrecked society. For these morons it’s all about appearances and posturing, and the old cars serve as props to their immoral power-fantasies. Never mind how Cubans actually live, for “progressive” tourists Cuba is a kind of revolutionary Colonial Williamsburg where they can show solidarity with the inmates people in charge and pretend they’re fighting the evil Yanqui imperialists. Who knows — without those old cars, it might feel like just another third-world country that’s been run into the ground by a bunch of gangsters. That wouldn’t be any fun. (How many of these tourists realize that Cuba was a first-world country before Castro took over?)

The tourists get to go back to their nice homes in the U.S. and not be bothered by pesky ingrates who would rather risk being eaten by sharks than live in the workers’ paradise. Not to mention that if you don’t spend much time there you don’t have to deal with the Cuban medical system, which functions at around the same level as those old cars.

Economist Reuven Brenner argues that distribution of national oil revenues among the Iraqi populace would contribute greatly to peace, freedom and prosperity in the region, and that this would be the case even if the country eventually split along ethnic or religious lines.

Ideas have long lives. Embodied in institutions, they outlive their usefulness – and bring about instability. Ideas, which were initially useful in fighting misgovernment by foreigners and which were a response to growing mistrust among the increased population within each European “tribe”, were transformed into deeds and institutions. These institutions sustain myths, create habits, which are then exported to other countries. Habits of thought slowly harden into character – with the origins of thoughts and events that set this sequence in motion, long forgotten.

Oil money sustains both dictatorships and much outdated institutions and character traits. This is why the crucial first step in achieving stability in the Middle East is to disperse the funds among people living within the now recognized borders, rather than let it flow through the hands of unaccountable and corrupt rulers and governments. Unless the people within the present Iraq borders are given such tangible stake in the future, “democracy” and “constitutions” will become nothing but empty promises and worthless pieces of paper, with the vast majority of people mired in poverty and ignorance.

Waiter!