By Philippe Boutros
A beautiful thing is happening in the world, and it's a pity that none of us seem to be aware of it. Nefarious political entities (and by that I mean the Republican party) have been too busy screwing up our domestic agenda to continue messing up the Middle East.
Over the past year, political upheaval has swept across the Middle East much like how a wildfire clears the underbrush, leaving space for new things to grow. The behemoth that is our federal government slowly but surely managed to adapt from supporting tyrants to being on the right side of things. No longer do we ship weapons to dictators that rig elections and kill their countrymen.
I spent the summer working for an NGO in Beirut, Lebanon and Amman, Jordan. A large part of my job consisted of coordinating between "social innovators" around the Arab world.
Turns out I was lucky enough to meet many of the people who participated in the protests.
People like Marwa, the Egyptian woman who, while running Egypt's largest women's rights organization, managed to rally her neighborhood against Mubarak's forces through sheer willpower and charisma.
People like Hisham, the man who was imprisoned on two separate occasions in Bahrain by the Saudi-supported regime, but kept protesting peacefully.
These people are proof that change can occur if enough people do something about it. I am not the type of person to lightly dole out clichés.
Instead of complaining about how our political system is broken, do something: fix it. Write to your congressman. They actually do listen to their constituents every now and again.
Congressmen want to get re-elected, and not all of them have the resources to rig elections (cough, Bush, cough).
If you really want to make a difference, register as a Republican and vote for Bachmann in the primaries. Let's give Obama a home run, ay?
The elections are only a heartbeat away. Keep in mind that whoever wins this election will be president when we graduate.
I do not want my country to be run by people who actually debate eliminating the minimum wage and food stamps, especially because I'll be graduating with a degree in philosophy and political science. I don't want to go hungry.
Obama 2012 for the win. It's our future.
