Iran Election: Proof We are ALL THE SAME. Even the Extremists are the same...

Now that I've met people in nearly 50 countries, it is clear that ALL PEOPLE ARE THE SAME. Even the Extremists are the same. Iran just threw us a big curve by electing a moderate after eight years of an ultra-conservative.

All people I've met worldwide want basically the same thing.  They want OPPORTUNITY for themselves. They want EDUCATION for their children. They want A JOB, not a handout. And they want to be left alone by their government -- and their neighbor.  They want JUSTICE and equally. They want respect.

The Extreme of EVERY Group are also, ironically, the same -- whether they are Muslim, Christian or Jewish (or even people like Tim McVeigh). It applies to both religious and political groups. Every one of them are INTOLERANT of everyone outside their small circle. 

It is the Extremists in each religion or group who favor violent speech or violent behavior, whether its IED's, shooting kids or trash talk radio hosted by people who demonize entire groups because of their culture, their sex, their color or their religion.

What do the Ultraorthodox Jews in Israel have in common with the Taliban?  Neither like women mixing with men -- the Taliban don't want women and girls getting an education. The Ultraorthodox Jews have been known to scream at girls for the way they are dressed going to school and insist they sit in the back of the bus and walk only on certain sides of the street.

Christian Extremists are just as intolerant. The Westboro Baptists are angry at gays so they hurl insults at the funerals of our soldiers and first responders. They condemn people who have nothing to do with gays. Sound similar? Sound crazy? Not a representative example?

How about the Southern Baptists, a huge group who claim to follow Jesus, condemning the Boy Scouts, the Boy Scouts! Why? For allowing scouts who are gay to join or stay in!  How horrible! Condemning a kid simply because  he or she has a different sexual preference. We just saw on TV a little boy named Sebastian in San Antonio being insulted by bigots angry at his color and his costume. Their biased eyes closed their ears to his magical singing. I thought Jesus was supposed to be a lesson in accepting and helping the least among us instead of finding groups to condemn?

Intolerance is the common bond of all extremists.

Rush Limbaugh calling a law student  "a slut" is no better or worse than an Ultraorthodox Jew in Israel ranting at a secular girl's dress on her way to school. A Taliban bombing a school is no worse than a kid shooting up another elementary school with the same type of assault weapon the Taliban use.


The good news is that moderates who are the majority of Americans--and in countries around the world that I have seen over the past 30 plus years.

And it is the moderates who just made a major WIN IN IRAN after eight years of ultraconservative Ahmadinejad. Many Americans may think that is a crazy statement. That's because they have not been in the countries and seen what I have seen.

Proof that the people of Iran are more moderate than radical I give you the evidence of today's election in IRAN of a MODERATE instead of another firebrand Conservative. Here is a link to the story:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323734304578544912995560792.html 


American justice has always been special because it has attempted to treat all parties the same. Whether big or small. It doesn't always turn out that way, but it is far better than the lack of justice in many countries where the rich buy the judges and the justice. Justice is only meted by moderates, not extremists.

I hope we see a new era in Iran. It was young people and women who voted for Mr. Rowhani. I had a close encounter with Iran when I was offered a job working on a naval base my company was building in Iran for the Shah...in 1979. I barely avoided being put on a barge a step ahead of Khomeini's revolutionaries who overthrew the Shah. The story of that strange tale, with photos, is in my new eBook "Better Times Ahead April Fool."