Or we could be smart...

The WaPo reports that pro-American sentiment is on the upswing in Iran again, as people realize that Ahmadinejad and his gang of Revolutionary Guard cronies have screwed their economy.

To me, this says that now is the perfect time to normalize relations with Iran, for their sake and ours. History shows that many of the countries that made a successful shift from dictatorship to democracy - South Korea, Taiwan, Mexico - did so only after their societies built close ties with the U.S. People from those countries consumed American media, visited and studied in America, and came to see the U.S. as the shining alternative to all the bad stuff they were experiencing back home. And when they demanded democracy from their governments, it was friendly U.S. pressure that convinced the governments to put away the tanks and accede to the people's wishes.

Now is the perfect time for us to do this sort of thing with Iran. If we abandon the failed policy of isolation and open our society to Iranians, we have a chance to help them and help ourselves at the same time. If that means sacrificing some of the Republicans' pride, well, that's a small price to pay, no?