Rich Lowry
Every revolution against autocracy is initially stirring. Who wouldn’t have cheered when Louis XVI was forced to convene the Estates General, or when a liberal provisional government took over from Czar Nicholas, or when the rank and file of the Shah’s army refused to fire on protesters in the streets?
All these inspiring events were mere prelude to catastrophe, making the years 1789, 1917 and 1979 synonymous with the onset of tyranny and…