My Dad brought up the point that in Egypt, we have a democratically elected president who was deposed by the military.
Now, on the one hand, he did not turn out to be the type of president that the people who elected him thought he would be.Many wish that they had made another choice.
On the other hand, he was deposed by the military, in what is a blatant coup. Not sure how their country is gonna turn out right now.
So we have the military deposing a legally and democratically elected choice of the people. Even though he is now unpopular.
Yet the military is clearly doing the popular thing.
So who is in the right? The majority of the people are apparently happy that Morsi is no longer in power.....Yet the people who oppose the "regime change" are correct that this is an illegal act. Unconstitutional.
What if it had happened here in the US?? What if, after the 2012 elections, a cabal of generals had chosen to take power? That would have met approval of many (myself included...sorta), but it would be illegal. And UnConstitutional.
Where would you have taken your stand? If you read this blog often, then you likely believe in the Constitution.....and the rule of law.
Would you oppose the military? Stand behind Obama? Fight for the constitutionally (and legally) elected leader? Or join the revolution? (I wouldn't unzip for Obama if his teeth were on fire, but.....)
If you join the revolution, what does that say about your commitment to the Constitution?
Tough choice, innit?
Same for the Egyptians.
Really, Morsi is just Obama writ large.
Who is right here? Bad president who is legally elected, or do you trash the Constitution?
4 comments:
The problem is that I can't recall a single military coup that resulted in MORE freedom.
+1 on divemedic, and it's interesting to watch the pols scramble in DC... Bottom line, by definition, this IS a coup; which by US law triggers a cut off of funding to Egypt. But that ain't happening...
If it were me, I would stand with the current, standing Pres. of the US. The Constitution is the law of the land. Other laws are ALSO in place, ones that I very much agree with. Posse Comitatus comes to mind... yeah, DC is a federal enclave, but the military is not to be used for police purposes, and deposing a sitting President would (IMO) be a police duty, even if it's Federal police.
The exception that I can envision is if a sitting President himself violates the Constitution in a bid to remain in power beyond what the law allows. In that case... cut him ear to ear.
Egypt is different than the US. Morsi essentially suspended their Constitution, dismissed most of their judges, and instituted his own set of laws based on Sharia.
The military is one of the most respected institutions in the country. Most of the population supports the move to depose Morsi because he was moving in much the same direction as Mubarek, with the exception that he was pushing to renew conflict with Israel, support Islamic radicals in Syria, and of course killing the already fragile economy in the country.
With luck, the Egyptian people will get a do over on the election.
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