Sunday, May 29, 2011

The Mediocracy of the Middle

Ah well, since every Egyptian is a political analyst nowadays

*Fesh throws his metaphorical hat into the ring and emerges, hooded and wearing the mandatory Egyptian flag-themed boxing short.

As happy as I am with all the dynamic politicking that's happening in Egypt, I'm very annoyed with almost all of the charters of the new parties being formed now. Almost all of these charters read like a Constitution would read: belief in human rights, equality of people without regard to religion, gender or race, etc. I get it, we are embracing democracy and those principles are ones we have longed for for a long period of time, but aren't they universal as well? Shouldn't these charters mention an Ideology that people can be for or against? Who wouldn't be for "equality among citizens of Egypt" or the "growth of Egypt" or "return Egypt to it's historic leadership position in the region"?

Interestingly enough, the only party that stands out now is the Muslim Brotherhood's party, the Freedom and Democracy Party, they clearly state that their ideologies are: Islamism, Conservatism and Islamic democracy. I respect that. The biggest party in the German Bundestag is the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Of course the difference being the way you implement your ideology. The CDU has no problems with electing non-Christians in the parliament or females, something that the Muslim Brotherhood's party still needs to vindicate itself on. But my point stands. The German CDU has a different set of ideologies than, say, Die Linke, the left-leaning German party that has a democratic-socialistic ideology.

The Mediocracy of the Middle is nowhere most apparent than on the economic ideology. Almost 100% of the charters that I read mention something along those lines: "The group supports free-market capitalism, but without manipulation or monopoly" or maybe add a line about social justice, which I guess is code for: we'll get the benefits of the US's capitalism AND all the benefits that Socialism has in Europe.....riiiiiight and I have a chicken that lays golden eggs as well.

Maybe this state of ideological mediocracy is my opportunity to launch Egypt's very own Pirate Party, Sweden-style? I will ponder this thought as I listen to some illegally downloaded MP3's.