The Issue: The recent ousting of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi by military forces after protests.
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Tyranny, religious or secular, begets violence (“The Silence of the Brotherhood,” Editorial, July 9).
The democratic rule of 51 percent, absent safeguards for minorities and a principled tolerance of the same, is merely oppressive mob rule legitimized by elections.
Egypt’s Sharia-based constitution had an awfully short shelf life. And the members of the Brotherhood quoted in the editorial explain why. Egypt’s religious despots have been turned out by secular ones with superior firepower. Ray Arroyo
Westwood, NJ
Kudos to the Egyptian people and their army for the overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi.
Think of how different our world would be if the German people and the armed forces had deposed Adolf Hitler and his regime — which also achieved power through democratic elections. The Nazis then burned down the parliament and banned all opposition parties. You know the rest.
The Muslim Brotherhood is similarly intolerant of opposition groups and is hell-bent on transforming Egypt into an Islamic state.
Electorates should beware of political parties and ideologies that use the electoral process but are themselves anti-democratic. Democracy is not a suicide pact.
Ron Wasserman
Freehold, NJ
President Obama never objected to Morsi’s dissolution of the Egyptian Constitution, disbanding the Egyptian Supreme Court and firing of the Egyptian attorney general. He didn’t protest Morsi’s action because he would like to seize dictatorial powers himself. Just look at all of his unconstitutional executive orders.
This is what happens when the misinformed electorate, guided by Obama’s co-conspirators in the media, elect a president who hates America almost as much as the Muslim Brotherhood does.Robert Reeg
Stony Point
In one way, Egypt is ahead of the US. Egyptians finally realized that enough is enough. When will we do that?
Morsi came to power as Egypt’s first elected president, making promises he had no intention of keeping.
The Morsi philosophy is standard practice for Islamist leaders. First, gain control by telling the people what they want to hear. Then do what is really on your agenda after you are in power.
Obama created the same situation in the United States. But an adoring media and largely gullible population has thus far failed to acknowledge these similar philosophies in our president: He made election promises he had no intention of keeping to an adoring but ignorant public.
So, when do we realize enough is enough?
Alan J. Winters
Bellaire, Texas
We are a representative republic, not a democracy. The founders detested democracy.
That is the difference between America and other nations. Egypt is a perfect example, as Michael Goodwin points out, of how the concept of democracy can go awry (“Don’t Cry for Democracy,” July 7).
It seems we are experiencing similar events here in America the last few years.
The unalienable rights our founders recognized in the Constitution and spelled out in the Bill of Rights make us an exceptional nation.
It is the concept of individual rights that makes us a free people, not the whim of the majority.Robert Sanfilippo
Roslyn Heights
Morsi was just barely elected. Then he changed the Constitution illegally, gave himself special powers illegally and demoted the Supreme Court illegally.
He allowed Egypt to go into rapid economic decline while allowing his followers to rape, murder and pillage Christians. Then he started to institute sharia law illegally.
The Egyptian military, supported by the Egyptian Constitutional Court and millions of protesters, finally had enough and took action. What is wrong with that?
Diane Richardson
Bridgeport, Conn.