Quotes from a revolutionary

[DFW]

"...the aim of democracy is to recognize the pluralistic nature of human society.
The second item is tolerance. I have to tolerate my opponent. With tolerance comes
compromise, without tolerance, compromise doesn't exist."

"The simplistic perception of the state was that there is a leader, chosen by God,
a divine person, so they were expecting that the system would work as it was working
centuries ago. They have succeeded. They have a leader and he can do everything. And
yet the problems are still here."

"Of course this is not a monarchy, it's a republican state." "However, the political
system, basically, is a despotic one. Many basic rights and liberties are continuously
being denied."


I was finding myself saying, yeah, how close to home that hits. And it wasn't Che Guevara
or one of the more radical '68ers from America or Europe. It was Ibrahim Yazdi, one of the
original Khomeini insiders of the Iranian Revolution of 1979, now pushed out of the political
limelight by the religious fundamentalist nut cases (Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson would
be right at home in today's Iran). The problems he has with the current Iranian leadership
are close to the same ones I have with our current Republican leadership (I use that term
loosely), and McCain isn't about to make things any better if he gets in--reason enough for
me to vote Obama or HRC in a hearbeat, whichever of the two gets the nomination.