I literally couldn't agree more.
I began speaking on Egypt constantly a little over a year ago as a Junior in high school. It was right around the time of the beginning of the Arab Spring movement. Basically I learned and was instructed that when it came to Egypt, Syria, or any other nation in the grip of some major struggle that seemed positive on the protestor's side, keep it positive.
Certainly it seemed that the whole event was positive at first. Egypt's citizens, with the world community (which basically means the US and maybe some of the more affluent European nations) acting as a catalyst for their actions.
But just like African nations that constantly find themselves in the midst of apartheid and coups, often times it seems citizens in societies around the world don't know when to stop protesting.
It seemed great when Hosni Mubarak was overthrown, and seemed to signal a new era in Egyptian society and politics. But it seemed pretty easy to read the writing on the wall: when Egypt's military held onto power in a quasi-police state for months at a time, it quickly became clear that a democratic transition would be not only hard, but next to impossible.
As such, when Muslim Brotherhood (an organization thats not exactly known for the most peaceful of transitions and protest, though Egypt's MB sect was much less violent) backed politician Mohammed Morsi was elected, it seemed great. But of course it wasn't meant to last.
See, all the protesting after all the years of doing nothing seemed to make Egyptians too sensitive to actions by the government, and as such, as soon as Morsi screwed up one thing and wasn't perfect, the whole nation seemed to flip on the Muslim Brotherhood.
With the MB headquarters burning in the streets of Cairo, and the military attempting to establish a new totalitarian-like rule of law, it certainly seems like Egypt is going to dissolve back into the same chaos that ruled in the time immediately post-Mubarak, with the military cracking down on whoever they determine to be "dangerous islamists". The scary precedent here is apparent, and has already led to hundreds of killing and arrests on part of the new 'government'.
What should the "world's worst democrats" do in this situation? It is the opinion of this blogger that they simply need to accept an imperfect society and demand the reinstating of Morsi.
As much as I doubt this will happen, and I really don't know how exactly Egypt will have a future, this is exactly what must be done.
Take it a given that they are really sensitive to the democratic process. So, are they going to protest and try to overthrow the head of state and his political party every time a new democratically elected successor makes one little mistake?
Imagine if in the US, every time President Obama made a mistake, every citizen in the US rose up to overthrow. We simply couldn't function as a democratic society. Now throw our military in their and the eventual blood bath between loyalists and dissidents becomes apparent.
Egypt and its citizens are at a cross-roads. If they continue to accept military rule and fail to integrate themselves into the perfectly imperfect system that is democracy, they will continue to face a society that is far more abusive than their current state-less system. Clearly military rule is no way to go. Thus it it is up to the great protestors to lay down their guns and realize the fight was, and is, over. They need to bring themselves to realize that the fight for a just government must come peacefully from the pen, and not the sword.
Possible the greatest irony of the whole situation is that Egypt was much safer and put together on a societal level back when Hosni Mubarak was in power. Although no one is saying he was a great leader by any means, he did keep the country in one piece, and made it safe for tourists.
The same cannot be said for Egypt's protestors.
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