Pennsylvania Investment Observer

What If?

by Daniel J. Nestlerode

Back in the nineteen eighties, President Reagan took on the cold war and the entrenched status quo by pursuing policies that eventually resulted in the tearing down of the Berlin Wall and the entire Iron Curtain. The former USSR broke up into a number of smaller nation states, the cold war ended and the weapons of mass destruction are still being disassembled and used for peaceful purposes. Reagan was roundly criticized from many corners in this country and in Europe as a former actor who really didn't know how the world worked. Yet in retrospect, they were very wrong and Reagan was very correct. Whether you were for Reagan and his policies or not, history will show that he ended the policy of mutually assured destruction (MAD) and a new era of history was opened.

Now we have liberated Iraq from its criminal dictator. Elections have been held for the first time in history in the fabled land that apparently brought us "civilization". While the criminal terrorism continues, something appears to be taking hold in Iraq that just might spread throughout the middle-east: democracy. Yasser Arafat has passed from the scene and the Palestinians and the Israelis are making moves towards a workable peace. Mubarkic, in Egypt, has moved toward elections. France has joined the United States in beginning to dislodge the Syrians from Lebanon and Syria turned over Sadam Hussein's half brother to the newly installed government in Iraq. A lot has been going on the Middle East.

President Bush has been labeled a "cowboy" by those who understand and are committed to the status quo. Yet, critics are beginning to come around and wonder: what if Bush is right. What if the Middle East embraces democracy, discarding autocratic theocracies? What if the people in the Middle East are finally allowed to speak with their votes and their money? What if they become part of a marketplace society with a large and prosperous private sector? Is it possible that thousands of years of political and economic status quo might be changing? Could the major powers in the Middle East be reorganizing themselves to cash in on and enjoy the prosperity that democracy, limited government and a market economy has provided for many other areas of the world?

I realize that a lot has yet to happen before a peaceful, democratic and prosperous Middle East is part of our world. We have started down that path and now other countries are becoming interested in participating. What would the world look like if terrorism disappeared and the peoples of the planet worked together? Can you imagine the reaction Wall Street might have if we realized peace and prosperity in the Middle East?

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