Sometimes it seems from history’s lessons that the only thing more difficult than losing the revolution is winning it. The victors inherit the structure of governance, or what is left of it, and have to do better than the vanquished in that profoundly difficult work of governance. After the parades of ecstatic revolutionaries overloading the gun mounted Toyotas, firing rifles in the air, trashing the palace, and pulling down posters and effigies, all that is left is the serious dull and yet dangerous work of doing better in governing than the people you are replacing. 

All too frequently the violence of the battle for the power has shattered the good intended in a violent revolution. The religious have violated their faith in the tortuous battles, and the idealistic cannot quite sleep soundly because they are constantly reviewing the crimes committed to get where they are. Only the few sociopaths are more or less happy. After the French Revolution was the reign of terror where hundreds of men, women, and children went each day to the guillotine. The Russian Revolution produced the atrocities of Stalin. China had the “cultural reform”. Afghanistan went back in time, with hunger, misogyny and executions. January 6 was a kind of cautionary tale for the United States. Syria sits in peril on a pinnacle of ‘What is next’. Thomas Friedman gave us a Russian quote to summarize these events:   “It is easier to turn an aquarium into fish soup, then to turn fish soup into an aquarium.”

In our own political culture for the first time in this writer’s life I have heard people support violence in supplementing our political process under ‘certain conditions’ (like possibly losing a election). The current forming administration promises retribution. The moral muscle in our culture that cultivates forgiveness is weak right now. As for the religious passions that wire through this country, governance is not the job of religion, but the hard work of reconciliation is, so why not demonstrate faith by being faithful to proper role? Good in this case being faithful to roles and doing the real work. I am aware the percentages are against us right now, but reality is indifferent to the odds.