From Perfect "Order" to Chaos

As bad as they are, dictatorships do provide a certain kind of stability to countries that, in some cases, would fall apart due to complex cultural, racial or religious differences. Iraq and Libya are two recent examples of countries liberated from decades of oppression, which now find themselves in so much turmoil, that some of their people have begun to look on the "bad old days" with nostalgia. In both these cases, religious fanaticism is at the root of all the evils that plague them. While there was an iron hand keeping those irrational forces in check, there was a semblance of "normality." Absent that, all hell has broken loose.

The road to a supposed democracy and personal freedom is a long and winding one in countries such as these. Even after fair and free elections, majority rule could very well end up establishing a government that will not have a great deal of respect for the rights of minorities. Democracy is messy, and its results are far from what people envision.

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