Ding dong … Life after Murbarak begins

It isn’t exactly “Ding Dong the witch is dead,” but hundreds of thousands of Egyptians finally unleashed some long-sought jubilation after the announcement was made today that their dictator of more than 30 years, Hosni Mubarak, stepped down as president.

Such a transformation is sweet for millions of Egyptians who have wanted democracy in their land and those who love democratic rule should feel similarly  exuberant that such a government may finally set up shop in the Middle East. Just what happens to make a democratic form of government a reality is now in the myriad configurations of establishing such rule.

Egypt’s regional neighbors and world neighbors all look to the country now to see just what happens and how in ruling itself without, hopefully, the yoke of tyranny. It’s neighbors have reason to worry for various reasons. It’s more sinister neighbors abhor democracy and, if a free and dictator-less  Egypt succeeds, those neighbors such as Iran and Libya and the list goes on have cause to worry because — as the end of the Soviet empire shows — even a taste of freedom can be quite contagious.

Israel has a number of reasons to worry as does the United States, especially should  the transformation turn to fundamentalist zealotry as was the case with Iran and the sinister theocracy that came out of the student demonstrations there in the late 1970s. There are also varied reasons why those in the free world might like to see an Egyptian failure rather than success, mostly due to greed and politics. Perhaps they can all get together on Fox News and bloviate.

Hopefully, Egypt will choose a path toward an enlightened democracy and that its Western and other world neighbors will welcome the change.