By Joey Ricciardo

Never in a million years did I think that a President of the United States, the Iranian murderer Ayatollah Khamenei, and of all people Texas Congressman and Libertarian in Republican clothing, Ron Paul, would see eye to eye. Then again it seems like everyday, as history unravels before our eyes, I find myself starting a sentence with, “Never in my life did I think I would see…”

On Friday, June 19, the House passed a resolution supporting the Iranian protesters by a margin of 405-1. The lone dissenting vote came from none other than Ron Paul. His reasoning was the same as the president’s. We shouldn’t meddle in the affairs of sovereign nations.

For his part, Barack Obama has traveled from one country to another apologizing for American arrogance. Then in true Obama style, when it’s convenient for him, he wants us to believe that condemning a government for shooting its own citizens will dictate domestic policy to a foreign government. Who’s arrogant now?

Is that all we have to do? Is it that easy? Do you mean to say that all we have to do is condemn an action or voice America’s will and we can change the policies of foreign governments? Well why didn’t you say so? If that’s all it takes, let’s meddle all over the place!

We could get rid of the mass murdering dictator in Zimbabwe, we could get rid of Castro, Chavez, Kim Jong Il, Hamas, and Usama Bin Laden by having the president simply speak out against them. Heck I would support a U.S. Office of Meddling in Foreign Affairs. We could have a Secretary of Meddling. We should be careful not to take it too far though. No Meddling Czar, we have enough of those already.

If it’s that easy, it’s not just our privilege to meddle, it’s our duty. It would be a human rights violation not to meddle.

As outrageous and idiotic as that sounds, what is even more outrageous is that Barack Obama and Ron Paul would offer that up as an excuse not to support a people risking their lives to overthrow a government that exists merely by brute force.

The riots in Iran are not the product of some phony election. These feelings aren’t new and they certainly are not the product of meddling by the United States. What we are seeing in Iran has been simmering beneath the surface for 30 years. The Islamic Republic of Iran is not the people’s government. The Ayatollah , the Revolutionary Guard, and the Mullahs dictate every aspect of Iranian life (including who wins elections). Quite simply, the people have had enough.

The natural condition of mankind is to be free both spiritually and economically. That is why America is such a rousing success. While many have suggested that socialism, totalitarianism, and the other forms of oppressive systems kill the initiative and drive of their citizens, the truth is that they do not.

The sad and brutal truth is that the will to be free, the need to grow, the need to progressively become better can never be removed from human nature. The victims of government controlled economies are denied the most basic of human rights, the right to live rather than merely exist.

Under these government controls, a person must fight day after day, year after year to suppress the natural condition of their very soul. They must live an entire lifetime in some cases never being able to be who they are and never being able to find out what they could have become. They live their lives in a world of what ifs.

But thank God every once in a while an individual or an entire population of individuals comes along and just can’t keep quiet. They decide that it’s worth risking their lives to escape the suffocating state of mere existence. For Iran, it seems that their day has come.

And this leads to yet another in along line of things I never thought I would have to say.

As our own government extends into every nook and cranny of our lives, we should be mindful of the state of oppression that led to our own revolution. We should also look at the conditions of peoples around the world that suffer under governments that exude control either by force, legislation, or by the mere complacence of the populace.

This country should take note of those conditions and know that the same fate lies ahead for us as we travel down the road to fascism. Americans have been blessed not to be born under such conditions. We have also been blessed to be born in a country whose constitution gives us the mechanisms and the mandate to preserve man‘s natural state; while we still can.