Don't Tell My 3 Year Old: Democracy Does Not Require A License (Don't Tell Egypt Either)

I just got back from taking my 3-year old son to daycare.

As we walked to the car, he argued with me that he knows how to drive and wanted to drive to daycare.

How would you deal with that?

In a rare moment of insight, instead of arguing with him--I took out my wallet and showed him my driver's license. I explained to him that without a license with your picture on it, you are not allowed to drive. Of course, I threw in the part about the tests--but what do 3-year olds know about tests? Based on my irrefutable argument that since he could not drive without a license, my son relented.

And that brings us to Egypt.

For better or for worse--Democracy does not require a license either.

Being a king or a dictator requires a "license", whether it be lineage or raw power. But in a democracy: anyone can play. No experience necessary either--as Obama has proved. So there really is very little that we can say to the people of Egypt as they stamp their feet and declare "we want to drive!"

If a license to govern were required, then--like a license to drive--it could be revoked under certain circumstances: say, for instance, if you had a history of murder or assassinating rulers.

No such luck.

As it is, the media--which supposedly acts in part as our collective memory--has made a point of glossing over, if not outright ignoring, this detail.

And so the Muslim Brotherhood gets to play as well, along with Mohamed ElBaradei--whose biggest thing going for him is the number of people who have 'liked' him on Facebook. I'm not sure what people see in ElBaradei. As far as I know, he doesn't even have a teleprompter.

And the people of Egypt are looking more and more like my 3-year old.

Technorati Tag: Egypt and ElBaradei and Muslim Brotherhood.