Egypt:

I hereby extend my sympathy and best wishes to all of the people of Egypt. The situation there is a very dangerous one that will have a great impact on the region as well as the people of Egypt. Egypt is a respected sovereign nation that, like all nations, must chart its own course. For many years now it has been a very stable nation, and a positive influence internationally. While I sincerely hope that it will be able to resolve its current problem and will continue to exert a positive influence on other nations, we must be careful about how we react to the events now taking place there. This requires a somewhat difficult balancing act on our part. It is a balancing act that requires us to help the people of that nation without infringing on Egypt’s rights as an independent, sovereign nation, or the rights of its citizens to choose their own leaders. Please bear that in mind as you read the following observations:

Mr. Mubarak has overplayed his hand. The attack of the pro-Mubarak thugs on the peaceful anti-Mubarak demonstrators has created the dangerous situation referred to above. If the violence continues or the anti-Mubarak demonstrations are suppressed the consequences will be dire. As someone who has spent a good deal of time studying mass movements and revolutions, I can tell you that the anger of a large number of anti-Mubatrak demonstrators will cause them to join the most radical and ruthless group now opposing Mubarak. In other words, the violence and/or repression will radicalize many of the heretofore, peaceful opponents of the Mubarak regime. The number of peaceful demonstrators who are radicalized will be a minority, but in a violent uprising it is invariably the most ruthless group that seizes power, and that group always represses the moderates. The best-case scenario would be for Mubarak to resign now and for an orderly transition of rule to be established. Hopefully, the Egyptian army will realize this and will act quickly bring it about.

Frankly, I am pleasantly surprised that the anti-Mubarak demonstrators have not directed more of their anger at us. If this remains the case, it offers us a much better opportunity to form good relations with the government that emerges from the crises. Doing so, however, will require us to recognize the role we have played in creating the situation that has resulted in the unrest. It is not just our support of Mubarak over the years that makes us culpable. The root cause of the unrest in Egypt is the same as the cause of unrest in many nations; it is the escalading price of food. One of the contributing factors in the spike of food prices is our failure to regulate the commodities market. Franklin Roosevelt realized that the commodities market would have a stabilizing influence on food prices, but that that market must be regulated. His solution was to forbid the selling of an amount of futures that exceeded the expected production of those commodities. When we failed to enforce that reasonable regulation and the amount of futures sold exceeded production it created an artificial shortage. This in turn put an upward pressure on the price of food.

I do not want to overstate my case here. As Dillon Ratigan has pointed out, there are other factors contributing to the price increase, but just as the repeal of the Glass Steagall Act and our government’s failure to adequately regulate Wall Street and the lenders contributed to the economic meltdown we recently experienced, the unregulated commodities market has contributed to the high cost of food. This is just one more example of why our government must enforce reasonable regulations to keep Wall Street and a few wealthy individuals from satiating their greed at the expense of everyone else. It is one more example of why the Republican Party’s enrich the rich, anti-regulation philosophy is detrimental to the global economy. The misery caused by the high cost of food helps to create a breeding ground for radicals and terrorists. It is therefore in our national interest to enforce the regulation of the commodities market and to take whatever reasonable steps we can take to keep food prices from getting out of hand. The rest of the world will note what we do in this regard. We must show the people of Egypt and the rest of the world that we have conscience and a sense of fair play.