Demise of the Strong Man

Austin Bay offers some encouraging thoughts on the future of dictatorships:

With Saddam's execution, the myth of the Strong Man takes another major hit. We should all be thankful. The Arab Strong Man, the Serb Strong Man, the Soviet Strong Man, the fill-in-the-blank Strong Man -- the thugs in charge claim that obedience and submission lead to ideological or ethnic or nationalist or tribal or fill-in-the-blank victory. It's a scam, of course, a scam to sustain personal power. Ultimately, the tyrant's show is narcissism maintained by ruthlessness and the secret police...

This has happened -- and it's history-altering news. For terrible centuries, the yin-yang of tyrant and terrorist has trapped the Middle East. In 2003, the U.S.-led coalition began the difficult but worthy effort of breaking that tyrant's and terrorist's grip, and offering another choice in the politically dysfunctional Muslim Middle East.

This goes along with what I said the other day, that the death of Saddam is a turning point for democracy.