There is a danger in taking this position. Traditional Americans believe that liberty is bought and secured through armed revolt. It is an inborn urge that we say cannot be restrained. We look upon nations with oppressive governments as though the people themselves had something amiss with their own character. Americans would not tolerate the tyranny of Great Britain, and after much complaining and negotiating, took to violence and threw off the yolk of colonial power.What does the American expectation of self-determination imply? There are three main factors I would like to convey.
First, it means that we are only likely to foment revolt or regime change in a foreign country on our own when that country has threatened us with a credible means of attacking us.
Second, it means that although we would like to export the American revolution far and wide, we may sometimes look to a cadre of firebrands in a given region or nation to make the first moves toward armed revolution before offering support. In Iraq, only the Kurds have been willing and able to step up and fight with us. The Shi'ites were necessarily cautious after we let them down in the 1991 Iraq war. Do you see the dilemma? You can not count on America to solve your problems. If you do count on us, our internal politics or our own sense of restraint may lead to your demise when we fail to come to your aid when you do rise up to fight.
Third and finally, revolution is a grave undertaking, and will lead to your own death and those of many others whom you love and hate. But it must be done if you want freedom. By the time you decide to make that decision, make sure you have considered your goals and determined that you are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice.
Of the three above points, I am not a representative of the American government, so please consider my comments personal advice.
A revolution is unpredictable. Why did the American revolution turn out to be so successful, while the French revolution led to bloodbath and mayhem? What is common between the American revolution and the potential Iranian revolution of 2003? How will you be sure that your efforts will lead to a strong, wealthy society with the freedoms you demand?
The American revolution was lead by bright, unselfish citizens who had studied the best thinkers of the Enlightenment. They were Renaissance men who sat at the intellectual feet of John Locke, John Stuart Mills, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and others who established critical tenets of government that could benefit men rather than the other way around. You must work with your comrades and build a consensus about what is right and moral for the future of Iran. How do you want to deal with nationalism? How do you want to deal with religion? How do you want to handle property rights and self defense? How will government be formed so that it checks and balances itself once it is rebuilt? The American revolution has its roots in the English Gunpowder Plot. Because the Crown had decided to form a state-controlled religion, Catholics and their sympathizers who wanted to worship as they pleased formed a rebellion. It failed, but the Pilgrims were the next to assert their right of free worship by coming to America. The rest is history. Iran must think carefully about separation of church and state. America is a "Christian" nation by the nature of its people, not its government. Nowhere in our constitution or our laws do we specifically require Christian traditions. We ourselves must guard against this, and many of us believe that the first steps toward the destruction of our democracy will come when men decide to legislate Christianity. True freedom to worship can only come when the state makes no effort to choose how one follows his own conscience. Will Iranians understand this finally? Will they realize that freedom can only come when men are not required to obey the consciences of others? This may be the most important lesson of the American revolt. Consider it well.
The French revolution was conducted for the right reasons, but cruel men usurped the leadership of the revolt and turned it toward their selfish aims. This can be true anywhere. Marxism is lurking everywhere. Religious zeal is always nearby. You must be ready with faithful adherence to a core set of high-minded revolutionary tenets during the course of the entire revolt, and afterward as well. Make them together with a few good writers and thinkers. Exchange them via E-mail, on websites, over tea and coffee. You must stick to your ideals, or else the revolution will be overtaken by those who care only for their own selfish goals and not freedom. Freedom requires responsibility and sacrifice, and without both of those, freedom quickly becomes anarchy and terror.
I'd like to summarize my comments: know that Americans may or may not help you. But it should not matter! Make your own revolution, and it will not let you down no matter what outsiders do. And as you revolt, choose your path carefully. Our founding documents have much from which you can take inspiration. But you must read them on your own, interpret them for yourselves, and write your own documents. Make your own speeches. Start your own militia with your own minutemen! Tell one, tell all that liberty requires sacrifice. Blood will flow like water before you are done, but the global freedom tree will grow taller when you are done, and your own tree of liberty will never fall once you have grown it up out of the fertile earth of Iranian self-determination.
Samuel Adams was one of our most firey thinkers. He always has inspiring words for would-be revolutionaries who are afraid to dare the unthinkable. I'll leave you again with yet another quote from a talk he gave advocating the Amreican Revolution:
Will you permit our posterity to groan under the galling chains of our murderers? Has our blood been expended in vain? Is the only benefit which our constancy till death has obtained for our country, that it should be sunk into a deeper and more ignominious vassalage? Recollect who are the men that demand your submission, to whose decrees you are invited to pay obedience. Men who, unmindful of their relation to you as brethren; of your long implicit submission to their laws; of the sacrifice which you and your forefathers made of your natural advantages for commerce to their avarice; formed a deliberate plan to wrest from you the small pittance of property which they had permitted you to acquire. Remember that the men who wish to rule over you are they who, in pursuit of this plan of despotism, annulled the sacred contracts which they had made with your ancestors; conveyed into your cities a mercenary soldiery to compel you to submission by insult and murder; who called your patience cowardice, your piety hypocrisy.Americans are watching, hoping, yearning for Iran to be free. But do not count on anyone but yourselves as you hurtle toward July 9th. The fire of freedom comes from within. Troop, arms, tactical support, and moral assistance can come from outside, much as we obtained from France. But the bulk of the revolution has to come from within.