The current American President called terrorist-sponsoring Iran a "great civilization" and proclaimed it has "earned the respect of the United States and the world." Here's an alternative view from Iranian dissident Kianoosh Sanjari. "Mr. President," wrote Sanjari last January 20, "You marked your first day in the White House by ordering the closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison. But in our country, many Guantanamos exist, only our Guantanamos are home to students, women's rights activists, labor organizers, political activists, and journalists. We, as former student activists who spent time in Iranian prisons under inhumane conditions, call on you and all those who defend human rights, freedom and equality to express solidarity to the people of Iran as they wage their struggle for freedom."

There's one problem with Sanjari's statement. The President of the United States doesn't care about the rights of individuals. He only cares about the power of governments. For whatever bizarre reasons, he likes the Iranian government. He thinks that by telling the Iranian government we like them, they will stop hurting their own citizens, and never hurt us. Of course, just the opposite will prove true, because appeasement only makes irrational men bolder.

An American President who ignores the rights of dissidents in Iran will not long tolerate opposition in America. The United States has survived as long as it has because its system, and its basic philosophical premises, are superior to many of those who have governed. This has never been more true than at present. America needs a President worthy of its origins, and of its Constitution--not one who considers a totalitarian religious dictatorship hellbent on nuclear destruction a great nation.

(Pictured: Two Iranian citizens being punished for the "crime" of homosexuality.)