After the Protest

So, in a post-revolution Iran, where does the United States fit in? It would be nice to think that the new government would come to us and ask us to help them to set up a democracy like we have. I would tell them they should write up a governing document just like our Constitution and Bill of Rights, and they would get along pretty well. They probably wouldn't want to adopt our 70,000 pages of Tax Code - nobody in their right mind would. But, there are a couple of reasons that we probably won't have a lot of influence over there when it is all over. We shouldn't forget that other countries have been doing business with Iran over the years, and already have their foot in the door. I'm talking about Russia and China, mostly, but I imagine there are at least a couple of European Union countries that didn't strictly observe the trade sanctions, and I don't know about India. And there is the indoctrination factor - for thirty years we have been known as the "Great Satan", and students have chanted "Down with America, Death to Israel", just like our students recite the Pledge of Allegiance. These words show up on banners is mosques and are painted on the sides of buildings. See it often enough and you might start to believe it. I think that at best we might end up being a friendly trading partner, and that would depend on how many billions of dollars we are willing to ante up. Maybe they would let us build an embassy there, or a McDonald's.
Seriously, why would the Iranians like us? Our reputation is not that good. We are the ones who backed the Shah, who was a hated despot, and treated the people terribly, until he was overthrown by such a revolt that is going on right now. When the Shiites rose up against Saddam Hussein in Iraq after the Gulf War, we just let them fend for themselves, in spite of all the promises and encouragement, and they were slaughtered. And after we helped get rid of the Russians in Afghanistan, we forgot about the help we promised and let them be taken over by the Taliban. We have allowed ourselves to be bad-mouthed by almost everyone over the years, even by our "allies" in Europe and elsewhere. Even the liberals in our own country have criticized our every move, especially since the war in Iraq. How many times has our own President Barak Obama said that our system is "broken"? Is it unrealistic to think that the Iranians might not consider our government a model worth copying?
We really have only ourselves to blame. We don't stand up for ourselves as the greatest nation on earth. We should, by all accounting, be remembered as the friendly country that bailed out Europe's butt in two world wars. We should be remembered as the country that gave up over 4,000 precious lives and a lot of treasure to give 50,000,000 Muslims a chance to savor the taste of freedom. Why do we stand idly by and allow others to call us "Imperialists"? Nothing could be further from the truth! I just want us to be known for the reputation we have earned and deserve, not the one crafted by those who don't know us, or don't have our best interests at heart, or just don't give a damn.