If you’re feeling uneasy about the turmoil in the Middle East these days, that’s natural. When revolutions unfold, the “yikes” factor is pretty high.
Yes, conflicts in that region will likely impact energy production, and yes, we who are fortunate enough to live in developed western societies are heavily dependent on energy.
But if you look past the media fear mongering — most of which is deliberate and shameless — what’s happening in the Middle East right now will likely have a very positive outcome.
Ordinary citizens — people like you and me — in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain and half a dozen other places are gathering in public places and voicing their desires for liberty and democracy. That can’t be a bad thing.
They are doing it without violence, despite horrible violence used against them.
Isn’t that exactly what America has been hoping for?
A billionaire dictator in an oil-rich country has dozens of reasons — political, religious, egotistical — to manipulate his country’s energy resources, with almost no disincentive. But a newly empowered democratic government is motivated by one goal: to put their resources on the market as efficiently as possible to feed their people and develop their own economy.
If we are lucky, the people of the Middle East, desiring more freedom and greater opportunities, will transform that religion into a more logical, more stable and more capitalistic business partner of western societies.
That’s the sort of future I’m hoping for. When democracy wins, we all win.