Reply #27: How could it have gone otherwise?

[Igel]

Should the Army say there'll be elections tomorrow, starting at 9 a.m. and running until 9 p.m.? And that whoever wins is president as soon as the ballots are subject to a provisional count? Would Tuesday be much better? Friday good for you?

Who'd run? Who'd have any press? What are the odds that anybody that actually would be elected, given a few months of investigation, campaigning, etc., would actually be elected? How do you get candidates nominated?

Should the Army just appoint a civilian? "You, Ahmed Muhammed Abdul Rahim. You're president. Pack up your things, you're in Mubarak's house tomorrow. You're president, and have to operate in conjunction with the legislature per the Constitution. Oh. Sorry. No constitution. No legislature. You're it. Welcome to democracy!"

Perhaps whoever happens to be in Tahrir Sq. should decide. After all, they speak for the diversity of 80 million Egyptians, young and old, in Upper and Lower Egypt, Arab and Copt.

And the Constitution? "We want it suspended." "Done." "No, wait. That's not what we meant." "It's what you said."

"No, we meant want a new one. It's a democracy, give us one." "Fine, do you want to be the person to write it? Your friends? Have an election to appoint a committee to produce it? Do we vote on it? When? I know. It's democracy. How's a week from Wednesday for the referendum?"

They get their demands, and it turns out their demands sounded good but had all the far-sightedness of a euglena. They've been cursed, to a large extent, with being given their wishes. How pyrrhic.

As soon as people start saying "the people have said" when a few hundred k out of 80 million have sort of agreed on a few fuzzy agenda points I know that all critical thinking has ceased, and probably all thinking.