Exciting news! Chestnut Street is open between 5th and 6th Streets!

I realize that this statement means very little to anyone outside of Philadelphia. In fact, it means very little to anyone not living explicitly in Center City Philadelphia, but it is exciting news.

Ever since September 11th, that one block section of Chestnut Street in front of Independence Hall, has been closed to traffic. Security/terrorism reasons. But most Philadelphia streets are one way, so having this one block section closed meant a long, indirect route from one side to the other. So when my cab driver insisted on driving down Chestnut Street, I was pleasantly surprised that we could get through.

Well, as evidenced by the above paragraph, I have limited things to say today. Oh well. I did read an interesting essay by one of my all-time favorite authors, Orson Scott Card, about the frightening possibility that everything might actually go right in Iraq. (Via InstaPundit)

Let's learn from France's experience with the fledgling United States. You never know, when bringing the blessing of freedom and democracy to another nation, when you might be anointing your own successor.

I say this, not as a warning, because the ebb and flow of history has no inevitable forces, but rather as a guide. Having created Iraq's new chance for democracy, let us not expect them to be as compliant as the Shah of Iran was for so many years.

Let us instead treat them immediately as our equal among nations -- not our equal in wealth and power, but our equal in legitimacy as the elected leaders of a great and free people. Let France, Russia, or Germany try to bully them and earn their hatred -- but never us.

Then, when they come into their day of power, we may be relieved to find that they do not see us as their enemy.

Because once democracy takes hold in Iraq, no foreign army will ever pass easily through that land again. Not even ours.

[Amen.]

Quote du jour:

"Democracy is based upon the conviction that there are extraordinary possibilities in ordinary people."

-- Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878 - 1969) US clergyman

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