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For those of us who have grown up and lived in totalitarian states the signs are ominous. The unquestioning adoration. The threats to anyone who dare oppose. The clampdown on any dissenting media. Unclear public policy. It was the `good people` who welcomed Fidel Castro when he stood up against corruption. It was again the `good people` who welcomed Khomeini home to Iran to start a revolution for the poor. I will never forget meeting one of the original students, one of the `good` people who supported and worked with Khomeini. He had promised food for all, jobs for all, freedom and equality. The promises never materialized. Months after arriving in Iran to cheering crowds, the same students who had joyfully welcomed him experienced firsthand the near immediate setting up of the moslem police state. Stunned at the dramatic change of events and a `revolution` so different from what they had been promised, my friend asked Khomeini directly. `What happened to all your promises`.

With steely eyes, he told me Khomeini looked at him and said simply `I lied`. I cannot forget the sadness in the eyes of the now middle aged student follower of the Islamic revolution. The pattern is always the same. We all forget at our peril that Dictators usually come to power on a wave of adoration and calls for change. Once in control of the levers of power they immediately dismantle the very freedoms that allowed them come to power. Why does this happen? There is one very simple answer. It is the danger of goodness. Good people are at their core exactly that – good. They always look for the best in people, strive for progress and hope for a better day. They cannot imagine how anyone given such power would every want to use it for anything but good. It is their one massive and gaping blind spot – their own goodness. I was in Baghdad with a senior American General. He had just finished a meeting with the panicked Assyrian Christians of the city. `The meeting went very well. There were no complaints` he said. `Was there anyone else in the room besides you and them`, I asked. `Just a couple of Officials` he replied. Having spoken with the Christians, I knew he had neglected, in his `goodness` to understand the `look` given to the Christians by the `officials` in the room. Having endured Saddam Hussein, they all knew that `look`.

It said `say a word and you are toast`! Goodness, as De Tocqueville found is America`s greatest blessing. It causes us to reach out to a world with open arms of giving and caring, always believing, always pushing for a better world. At the same time, as Americans it is our Achilles heel. Sadly, there is evil in this world and understanding it first is the only way to be truly `good`, because the real purpose of `good` is to stand against evil. Hopefully I and so many others are wrong and all the telltale signs of classic dictatorship will not come to pass. I for one, though do not want to look into the eyes of another `good` person and hear them say `but it all sounded so good`. Vigilance, a clear minded understanding of evil and a sharp eye at history are the only human ways to stop a dictator. There is one thing, though that every dictator forgets about at his peril. That is that goodness is based on faith and faith is nourished by prayer and prayer still changes history. Disappointed? Fearful? You should be! The solution? Get on your knees. Prayer still works and it still stops the march of evil and ultimately all tyrants fall in its path. Ken Joseph Jr.