Changing Power Peacefully, Preferrably

"WE RESIST TRUTH only because if we accepted it we would perish." said the always right on johann wolfgang von goethe. we do not avoid truth, we do not fabricate because we want to, but because we have to, or strongly feel that we have to, to survive.

"We are never deceived, we only deceive ourselves" said, yes, you guessed it, johann wolfgang von goethe, who you by now probably realize said a lotta cool things. I do it all the time; engage in self deception. I hope and trust i am not alone.

This appears to be what syrian dictator bashar assad is doing right now, deceiving himself, if not indulging in outright denial. Either that, or pretense. He is acting like he believes that most of the thousands of people trying to remove him from power are paid foreigh terrorists, when in fact they are good solid fed up syrian citizens.

power corrupts, and absolute powr corrupts absolutely, said lord acton, and verily power is an ego trip which becomes addictive, and terribly difficult to leave. Lord Acton further admonished "great men are always bad men". 

I would hazard a guess that nearly every president who has left office in the united states didn't want to, with the probably exceptions of thomas jefferson, abraham lincoln, and lyndon johnson.

you know for damned sure reagan would have served till he left feet first, had we let him, and in fact many americans wanted just that... frightening prospect, considering mr reagan was showing early symptons of dementia late in his first term.

Assad has the understandable point of view that he was given power legally, the revolution is illegal, and no foreign nation has any right to suggest what should take place in syria politics. nonetheless,, the syrian civil war is between syrians, it is not an invasion of western backed foreigners, and it will succeed. the sooner assad sees that, the better. the last thing we need is another dictator going down like mussolini, or hitler, or saddam.

the fact that the united states changes power every four years in a peaceful, orderly, fair manner is a beacon unto all the world, and should serve as a model for all nations.