Pat Santy, who publishes the wonderful Dr. Sanity website, has done us all a favor by discovering and commenting on what can only be understood as a deranged article on Daily Kos, portraying Iran as... progressive.

Lest anyone have any doubts about exactly where the lunatic left stands, I urge you to read this incredible column up at Daily Kos, touting the wonderfulness of Iran (in comparison to the U.S., of course). You guessed it! Iran is a veritable "progressive" paradise!

Iran has invested its oil wealth in universal education, healthcare, infrastructure bringing clean water and electricity to more than 98 percent of its people, and economic progress. Military spending is a paltry $91 per capita compared to more than $1,500 per capita in the United States and Israel. The social and economic achievements of the revolutionary regime in Iran in the past 25 years look quite progressive in reducing poverty and social inequalities, and as the society liberalises toward a more secular democratic regime, even better progress can be expected in the future. Compared to rising inequality in the United States and Israel, ranked numbers one and two for social inequality among developed nations, the Iranians look pretty damn good.

That, of course, is the problem. If Iran, rather like Venezuela, becomes a regional leader and examplar of social democracy, it becomes a threat to the corporatist and militarist elites that dominate the political classes of Washington and Tel Aviv and exploit the mineral and oil wealth of underdeveloped nations.

Hat tip: Larwyn

Thomas Lifson