This is a story of two countries. They are intertwined by the incredible differences they portray as well as the deeply shared mannerisms and likeness in certain policies that both have employed recently.
Those two countries are the United States of America and Iran.
The governments showed more fear than the people is nothing new to those of us living in the United States of America.
During the G.W. Bush/Dick Cheney administration, fear was the premise of our government. Exuding fear and projecting it upon the population of our country was the foundation of the administrations ability to cow Congress into starting Wars of Profit/Convenience. This was acheived by first using the attacks on the World Trade Center as a conduit to spew propaganda through their media tentacles to the general public that scared the pants off of the American people and had them clamoring to retaliate, consolidate and beg their Congressional representatives to save US!!
In Iran, back in the 1970's, the Shah of Iran was ruling the country with that ol' iron fist. The people were under the thumb of a dictatorship style government and wanted change. The Islamic Revolution was a product of this very desire for change. Unfortunately for the people of Iran, they traded in one dictator for a religious dictatorship. That is a story for another day and another diary, however. Suffice it to say, the majority of the people loved the idea of this change for a good number of years, yet many knew in their hearts that they were still under the thumb of a dictatorship.
In the United States of America, the Republican Party came roaring back to life just a few scant years after the downfall of disgraced leader President Nixon and the short tenure of President Gerald Ford.
After four years of Jimmy Carter as President the economy was sagging, energy prices had shot sky high, the Iranians had removed The Shah and had taken US Embassy personnel as hostages and Americans wanted a change. Enter Ronald Reagan and the Reagan Democrats. Supposedly fiscally conservative and By God certainly socially conservative, the Reagan administration started the country on their downward spiral of de-regulation, a return to bigotry-is-OK after years of civil rights advances, greed is good policies and class warfare. Times were still economically squishy, yet the Reagan Administration inserted one more policy that drove their agenda and the economy.
FEAR!
The Soviets WILL kill you. Yes, YOU! Personally!
From this came the military industrial complex buildup of proportions never contimpated previously. Hell, we were even spending money on Star Wars, which everybody knew didn't work but sure put lots of money into the coffers of defense contractors, defense contractor lobbyists and those who profit from THAT group.
Mind you that President Ronald Reagan got his first major publicity just after taking the Oath of Office by magically working out a release of the US Embassy workers that the new Iranian Islamic Republic had been holding.
A deal had been worked out prior to Reagan even being sworn in.
That deal? Iran-Contra. Another diary, another day for that one too. Yet, you get the point. Our government was all about Fear and Heroics! The Soviets will kill you! The Iranians know better than to mess with a manly-man like Reagan who, unlike Carter would kick their asses all the way into the Caspian Sea! By the way, this is where the silly idea that Republicans are great on National Defense and Democrats are little 'fraidy cat school children came from. Damn, they got their money's worth out of that Bumper Sticker, didn't they?
Meanwhile, back in Iran things were kinda fine at first and then they were not so good after the more educated people in the cities became disenchanted with religious rule that made for less, not more freedom in their lives. The government sent out the same message. FEAR Allah, or FEAR the consequences. Some not so serious revolts were quickly put down over the years as well as a few serious uprisings that were also quickly overcome. Throughout this time, it seemed as though the government had the people's backing, although cracks in the hardliners stance were beginning to appear and the reformists were slowly but surely picking up new members that agreed that change needed to happen.
The Youth Come of Age
In both countries, something snapped. The people of the United States of America were saddled with the aformentioned G.W. Bush/Dick Cheney administration and their horrific old non-bearded neo-conservative rich guys while the people of Iran were held down by old bearded religious guys. The populations of both countries were tired of the same old shit and therefore they pushed the limits of everything they could, just to prove that they could. The governments no longer held the popluations within their sphere of FEAR influence. Change needed to happen, dammit!
In the USA, it was the degredation of the country and the obvious lies by which they ruled of the Bush/Cheney cabal that got the youth involved in the 2008 Primaries and Presidential Election. The youth of America turned out in record numbers to do one thing. Elect a man that they felt would work to bring back a good measure of equality, honesty, ecological sanity and pride to our nation. The young people in America made the difference that brought about the changing of the guard in the White House and Congress. They were instrumental in grassroots campaigns that brought about the change in Congressional districts, Senatorial campaigns and managed to assist the people of the USA to elect the first African-American President of the United States of America. Now that is change you can see, right there. The youth of America were victorious!
In the year 2000, GWB was installed by the Supreme Court as President after a very contentious fight over the votes in Florida. In 2004, Ohio had some very questionable election returns and GWB was President for a second term.
In the year 2009, the youth of Iran turned out in record numbers to bring about change from the status quo of the Ayatollah's and the hardline President Ahmadinejad. They also worked at a grassroots level and from what we can discern, they voted in overwhelming numbers to elect Mir Mousavi so they could be the agents of the change they desired. The mullahs and Ayatollahs had already made up their minds that they wanted the hardliner Ahmadinejad as their President, no matter what the people wanted. They stole the election from the Iranian people. The youth of Iran quickly stood up and took to the streets. They were one. They were also brutalized by the government and had to back down physically or facepossible death. Yet they know. They know they won and they know that the religious whacks that actually rule them are liars and cheats.
The youth of Iran will be victorious. It will just take them a little time to get the plan straight. Then change will happen for them, too.
The governments of both countries showed more FEAR than the people.