Why are despots and tyrants not afraid to mingle with their own people?

The picture of Iranian leader Hassan Rouhani out for a hike, and the story behind it, reminds the casual western reader that our enemies have a different sort of relationship to their people than what we have here.

When is the last time an American president casually mingled with fellow hikers on an impromptu excursion into the hills? Not in living memory. Even the most mundane foray into the public sphere by Obama, or Bush or Clinton before him, is a massive security operation.

What's different about the "despots" is that they don't appear to be afraid of their people, whereas in America, the leaders are absolutely paranoid of unscripted spontaneous interactions with citizens.

Just before Saddam went to ground after the US invasion he was seen addressing a cheering and heavily armed mob. He was standing on the roof of a car as he gave them a pep talk. No American president would take that kind of chance.

Same with Gaddafi.  Sure there were people in Libya who didn't like him, but were it not for NATO air power those people would have held their tongues and held their fire indefinitely. The Libyans were a cultured, well educated, well informed people. By and large they knew things could be a lot worse, as subsequent events have shown.

So perhaps the trope of the "hated tyrant" is just that; a propaganda construct designed to placate the few who might ask questions here in our democratic utopias.

Things are not what they seem...

Don't let the skin tone fool you; Cain's a cracker

Stupid people are ruining America. Hmmm... I'm not sure if I agree with the Hermanator on that one. It's tempting, though, isn't it? Blame the stupid people.

There are certainly enough stupid people in America. If you believe the test scores from the international agencies that measure student achievement, Americans are becoming relatively more stupid. The think tank here at Falling Downs sees the problem as being a little more nuanced than that.

Stupid people are rarely elected to office. When was the last time an obvious cretin held a major political post? I know the name George W will immediately come up. I'm not sure that's true, but I'm pretty sure that's irrelevant. Any presidential candidate is little more than a symbolic figurehead. Every presidential campaign is run by over-educated over-achievers. Think what you like, but these people aren't stupid.

They do have a problem, however. Stupid people vote. So election campaigns are inevitably skewed towards appealing to stupid people. That's why Grover Norquist has so much power. Stupid people believe that taxes are bad. Herman Cain has a solution for stupid people who hate taxes. 9-9-9. It's catchy. Even the most stunned among us can remember 9-9-9. Nevermind that it means the richest will pay even less tax and the poor will pay more. Its got the aura of fairness and simplicity about it.

Cain likes to point out that half the population already pays 97% of all taxes. That's a sly way of saying the rich are paying more than their share. Nobody comes out and says the rich have more than their share. Let the rich pay all the taxes is what I say. What's fair about taxing the minimum wage folks at the same rate as the billionaires? According to Cain, if you're not rich you only have yourself to blame. Stop punishing those poor rich folks for their good fortune.

Given that the polls show that an Obama-Cain race is now a distinct possibility, the Hermanator has been getting schooled in the field of international diplomacy. His mentor is none other than far right nut-bar John Bolton. Cain's previous forays into international relations were limited to a few failed Godfather's franchises in Canada. Bolton is bringing him up to speed.

Bible good. Koran bad.

Turbans bad. Ballcaps good.

Israel good. Iran bad.

Bolton's not stupid either. He knows a blank slate when he sees one, and he hasn't seen one this blank since he worked for W. He knows if the cards fall the right way, he'll be Secretary of State in a year and a half.

He could even be Vice President!