Egypt again

Thomas Friedman "Close to the Edge" editorial in the New York Times has got me thinking about dictators, good and bad. As a libertarian blogging about the merits of individual freedom and decrying the authoritarians who would take our liberty away, it is difficult to understand how there could be a distinction between good and bad dictators. True that all dictators are odious, but Pinochet of Chile is an example of the very best and Fidel Castro of Cuba of the very worst on the dictator scale for two reasons. First, one leaves voluntarily after losing a democratically held election which the other never holds and perpetuates his reign with nepotism. Second, one embraced economic freedom that brought prosperity to his country while the other took a path of slave labor to poverty and despair.

In an earlier blog I hoped for the possibility that the Military leaders of Egypt might see the path of economic freedom as a solution to the economic malaise that forever holds back a sustainable democracy. Their actions now, while odious, does not preclude them getting a good dictator result, though the courage and clarity of thought to eliminate subsides and deregulate the economy hasn't shown it self yet.

August 25th comment

Today's "Other Nations Offer a Lesson to Egypt's Military Leaders" in the New York Times uses Turkey and Pakistan as polar opposite results that can be expected. Why bother with using Pakistan as an alternative model when the Nasser through Mubarak version is the same?  I posit that Turkey's better result is from an economy that is relatively free of damaging subsidies and central control.  If the Egyptian Generals get a sense of "it's the economy, stupid," then Egypt's path will divert toward the Turkish model. Otherwise Egypt can look forward to continued poverty and despair.