Civil Unrest

* We're seeing a tornado of civil unrest skipping across North Africa and threatening the Middle East. From a distance, it appears that several factors fuel this contagion.
* 1) Autocratic leaders who refuse to relinquish power. 2) Corruption throughout all branches of government, so that every interaction with government involves a bribe and/or injustice. 3) Obscene opulence of top leaders. 4) Lack of freedoms. 5) Educated people humiliated by lack of employment needed to begin customary life passages, eg marriage and children. 6) Large segments of population whose incomes are too low in relation to cost of living, especially cost of food.
* In other words there are political defects and economic defects that provoke demoralization, disaffection and impatience. It appears that the mobs will succeed in displacing the corrupt top leaders leaving sovereign countries temporarily ungoverned. Chances are pretty good that the vacuum will be filled by competition among factions identified by religion, clan, tribe, race, commercial connections, etc. Often the most cynical and ruthless faction wins such a competition, beginning the cycle again. Even if some benign regime and political system emerges from one of these rebellions, it is hard to imagine satisfactory economic outcomes for most subjects, laying the groundwork for future mob actions.
* There are Tea Party Limbaugh Sycophant Racist NRA Patriots who think our elected president should be targeted for mob action like that in Egypt (Tennessean, Opinion, 2011 Feb 22, Jeff Roman). They probably don't know that Reagan started us on the road to massive government debt and globalization with its attendant job flight. Nevertheless, it would be worth considering the extent to which factors analogous to those listed above might bring about demoralization and disaffection sufficient to evoke mob action in America (also Tennessean, Opinion, 2011 Feb 27, John Ruff).
* 1) We are able to replace our leaders every 2-4-6 years. 2) Our corruption is mainly in congress and due to our campaign financing which is tantamount to bribery. 3) Our political leaders aren't especially opulent, but our tax policies were rigged by Reagan and W Bush to accelerate sequestration of wealth by the already wealthy. 4) We are free enough, but many have been told by Tea Party rabble rousers that their taxes are tyrannical and confiscatorial. 5) Owing to our economic downturn, many educated, experienced and skilled citizens are unable to get work they consider appropriate. 6) Millions of our citizens are poor and essentially discarded or warehoused and facing rising food costs.
* If someone deserves to be the target of mob action it would be hedge fund managers in Greenwich Connecticut for whom our economic system has been rigged. Seriously, though, free-market capitalism leaves too many people out, and it is destroying the earth.