Phil Henshaw

way uptown

Other/Almost

Observations of a systems thinker... A practical vision when there is a danger of none...

One of the key insights mentioned onair today was the importance of the practical steps of people hammering out the details of the new institutions that are the actual strength of a society. What the public, and the press, ever really see of that process foundation building process is the concrete vision of the architects giving it a face.

I think the reason for the feeling that Egypt could be in trouble now, is the absence of that kind of concrete vision for the practical constructive efforts behind the scene, on all sides, to coalesce around. Today, one side says "change" and the other "go slow". Neither is meaningful enough to show both how they can stay out of trouble and begin to to work together. So, what's the practical vision, of the "new day" for Egypt.

I was thinking about how Egypt's civil authority does need time to develop and its need for "safety wheels", of some kind, as it does. One main danger seems to be ending with a democracy in name that is just another puppet of authoritarian rule.

Maybe the vision all the world would understand and could work is the military needing to accept the obligation of taking the immature civil authority on as a protectorate, a relationship that would have it's frictions, of course, but ending in a free civil society as it's unequivocal goal, just some loose strings attached for a while.

posted with my other guides on the subject at http://synapse9.com/blog/2011/02/10/egypt-a-practical-vision-when-there-is-a-danger-of-none/