the hard way

there is a life lesson that, after playing professionally for 6 years, i continue to learn the hard way. over and over again i have the same thing happen to me. i think i've learned from my mistakes and have put procedures in place and yet it still seems to happen and it's all my fault. it's like their are little gremlins or gear gnomes always one step ahead of me. what i talking about is gear problems on stage

here's the thing - at any given show there are a million things that can go wrong. cables can short out, wireless frequencies conflict, guitars get banged up, strings break, fuses blow, etc... and even though that is just a part of life, as a player, it's always YOUR FAULT...or i guess i should say my fault.

when the spotlight comes on and the curtain goes up, i am the one who looks stupid if there's no sound coming from my guitar or even worse - the WRONG sound coming from my guitar. it's really not fair, but it's just how it is. i can have every excuse about how someone else or something else caused this, but at the end of the day it's my fault.

i'll give you a few examples. we fly to shows a lot, and when i check my pedalboard, TSA has a habit of opening it up - which is understandable because on the x-ray all the cords and wires looks suspicious. however, many times they feel the need to unplug cables, twist knobs and even unscrew my George L connectors. so we show up at the venue for sound check and when i plug in i just get a horrible buzzing sound and have to waste 15 minutes of our 20 minute sound check trouble shooting which cable or pedal TSA messed with. and then there's guitar intonation. when you fly with guitars, they inevitably get banged around no matter how good your road case is. and there's nothing more frustrating than knowing your guitar is perfectly in tune, but you still hit a chord and something is out of tune because of the intonation.

sometimes the production company doesn't hook up the power correctly and the power your amp is running through is connected to the lighting system and again, i spend 15 minutes searching for ground lifts and extension cords. and don't get me started on wireless frequencies. every show will have different wireless mics and wireless in-ear packs that conflict with the frequency of my guitar. so i'll spend the time to switch the frequency in sound check, and then when showtime comes, i'll still have problems because another band has their own wireless packs that weren't turned on when i was scanning for an open frequency.

i'm not trying to complain here. this isn't a whining blog. the lesson is that it's up to YOU to put in failsafe systems to deal with this stuff. i always carry a spare cable so that if i have a wireless problem, i can instantly just plug right in and work around it. i carry one or two spare George L cables just in case TSA decides to mess with my pedalboard. i carry mini-screwdrivers with me and adjust intonation all the time to deal with my guitars getting banged around. i always have extra picks and sets of strings.

another issue is monitors and guitar tones. when i fly to shows i only bring guitars and pedal board. the promoter provides the amps, also known as backline. and while our contract rider dictates what types of amps to provide, frequently i get something less than satisfactory. but the fact remains that if my guitar tone sounds bad, it's my fault. i can't blame anyone else. so sometimes (not very often) i have to be a diva and tell them they need to find another amp. this has only happened twice, but there was no other way. and in the last two years i've adjusted my pedalboard with 3 gain stages of distortion so that i can deal with almost any amp in those few situations where the provided amp is no good and there's no way to get something else. i'm not a jerk about it. i try to be very respectful and it's been fine. one time the promoter went to guitar center, bought an amp for me to use and then returned it for a full refund after the show.

the same is true with your monitors. when i first started playing gigs i didn't care too much about what my monitors sounded like. i just didn't want to be a pain. but again, i learned the hard way that if my mix isn't right and it affects my performances, it's nobody's fault but mine. if the guy running monitors isn't very good, it's up to me to keep working with him until it's right. back with TFK we played to tracks and it was important to hear the click track clearly or else i could get off time with the tracks and the rest of the band. the same can also be true for singers - if you can't hear your voice clear enough, it's your responsibility to make sure everything sounds and feels right because in the end, you're the one who looks stupid if you go flat or sharp - regardless of whether or not you can hear yourself. you can't apologize on stage. well, i guess you can, but nobody cares. you look stupid.

there's no way to get around having technical mishaps on stage every now and then. stuff happens. but here's the thing - they don't have to happen twice. my strategy is this: if some sort of technical glitch happens, i figure out a way to install a safeguard so that the problem will never happen a second time. it's reasonable to make mistakes, but only once. after the first time it's up to you to figure out a way to make sure it doesn't happen again. yesterday i played a show and was having trouble with my wireless and couldn't figure out what it was. but i made a mistake and switched the channel and assumed it would be better. when the show started, it wasn't. luckily i used my spare cable and worked around it, but the first couple songs i had serious problems and looked stupid. i broke my own rule - and that is that if it's not sounding right during soundcheck, don't leave soundcheck until is it right. cause nothing magical is going to happen in between check and showtime that will repair your gear.

just remember, no matter how many and how good your excuses are, in the end it's still your responsibility to make sure your gear is working correctly and your responsibility to make sure that you are ready to play.

We'll Do It LIVE

Nowadays there are many ways to put a record together. Sometimes we put them together piece by piece, sometimes we record live and sometimes we do a little of both. The most important part of any recording process is not necessarily recording something that sounds clean and pristine. The most important part of any recording is capturing the energy of the performance. Sometimes that means we keep recording guitar parts over and over and over until we capture something special. And other times we work very hard before hand to create a vibe and to create an environment that's conducive to performance magic. and then of course, we are well prepared to capture that vibe.

A few weeks ago i went back to CRC in Chicago (www.chicagorecording.com) to work with the worship band Before Morning (www.facebook.com/beforemorning)

I've worked with these guys in the past before. And first off, i have to say that i am very proud of them and what they're doing. they're a church based worship band who are working within their own churches and communities but who have also grown and stay pretty busy running around the country playing youth events and camps. they've grown as songwriters and players and it's really cool to see them grow. for this project we decided to go into the studio to do one song in one day - and not just that. our goal was to create a live, in-studio performance to capture the energy when they all play together as opposed to overdubbing each individual part.

this is a picture of our drum setup - except without the Neumann 249s in an X-Y stereo configuration as room mics. stevie, the drummer, was playing his vintage ludwig kit with a classic ludwig black beauty snare. this setup is similar to what i've done in the past, except i experimented with two new things. first is the overhead mic placement. the inherent trouble with recording drums is that we mix drums to be very symmetrical - the snare and kick in the middle, toms and cymbals spread evenly. but look at the picture. the snare is a little to the right, one tom is higher than the other and the cymbals are at different heights as well as being stacked more on the left side than the right. in the past i've viewed the overhead mics as purely a stereo pair that captures the kit, but this time i experimented more with trying to get the cymbals to sound even in the left-right balance as well as the snare being in the middle. notice the overhead mic on the right is a little higher than the one on the left. even though the mics aren't placed symmetrically, we had to get outside the box a bit to get it to sound symmetrical.

the other new thing i tried was with the snare top mic - or i should say, mics. in addition to an sm-57 on the snare top, we took a neumann km-84 and taped it to the 57 so that the capsules of both mics were perfectly aligned to avoid phasing issues. from there, we ran the km84 through a compressor and smashed the crap out of it. when you mix the two mics together, the 57 captures the hard hits well and the 84 really highlights and accentuates the ghost notes and rolls that might normally get lost.

we put the bass and the lead electric guitar in the same room and separated them with studio baffles or gobos. Alex there on the left has a gorgeous Gretsch Tennessean and Sean has a nice Fender P Bass. And yes, i know what you're thinking. yes, there is sound bleeding into the other mics, but that's ok. that's part of what contributes to a more "live" sounding recording. if you go back and study recordings from the 50's and 60's you'll discover that many times it's the bleed from the other instruments that really lights up the recording. that was a magical period before muli-track recording became ubiquitous where everything was recorded live and capturing that performance was the primary objective. this is one of the rules you can break if you know what you're doing.

this here is my buddy @adambarriesmith playing keys. for the live performance he played a soft pad on the nord. we planned on overdubbing some piano but ended up decided that the recording didn't really need it. 

This was our main vocal mic. if you don't recognize it, it's a vintage tube AKG C12. i just checked the internets to see how much these things are going for and i found one on sale on ebay for $14,000. so ya, it's a pretty rare mic. and for good reason - it sounds great. our vocal chain was basically just running this mic through the Neve VR-72 console pre's and then through a Distressor. 

we had mister Josh Blick playing acoustic guitar on a very nice Taylor (sorry, i don't have the model number) and we using a stereo pair of AKG 451's as well as the plugged-in direct signal from the guitar. also, please notice my gut. i am getting fat. BLAH.

for our background vocals and choir vocals, i did them in separate layers. this i think is probably the most important part of a recording like this. the choir vocals really paint the audible picture of a live worship experience, and that's very hard to accurately re-create other than recording a live worship event. the first layer is the lead vocals. that's the obvious part. for the second layer i did what has historically been known as a Group 4 configuration. this technique is actually simple. it's just putting 4 singers in front of a single microphone. of course, nowadays most people would record each person individually and mix it later. but what you miss there is the space. notice how far each person is from the mic. plus, people seem to sing a little differently - sometimes more confidently - when they're with a group of people. the Group 4 method comes from the time of jingle singers and radio singers. when there was a jingle to be sung, they would cram all 4 singers behind a mic - and they would mix themselves by adjusting their own volume of voice and tone as well as how far they are standing from the mic. when it works like it's supposed to, it's super quick and easy. 

the last layer was the full-on choir vocal. remember those neumann 249's that we used as room mics? well we through them up in the drum room for choir mics. the best way to get the sound of a choir is to actually have a choir. so the whole band, as well as their wives, girlfriends and friends went into the studio. the choir vocals and the group 4 vocals were stacked a couple times. from there it's just a matter of panning it out a little, adding some reverb and serve!

we spent a lot of hours in the studio that day and as a result, we were all spent. but we were so happy with how it turned out. i was hoping to find a youtube video link to post so you could hear the final product but i can't find one. instead, you can find it on itunes. the band is Before Morning and the song is called "Awake". here's the link - http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/awake-single/id517272582

News News News

Ok, let's start this blog off with a bit of cliche. What cliche you ask?? the cliche of saying sorry that i haven't blogged enough. I mean, seriously, starting off by apologizing for not blogging enough is about as expected as the facebook drama that you will inevitably encounter if you ever post anything about raising kids. you see, about two weeks ago @superchicktrish and I had our first baby. she's a gorgeous little girl named Ava and she is the smartest and cutest baby ever. she will probably win the miss USA contest, discover the secrets of cold fusion and find the cure for cancer before she graduates high school....well, those are my conservative estimates. here is a picture of my little princess - however, be warned. if you have a heart condition the cuteness of this little flower may cause you to go into cardiac arrest.

well good morning!! ok, i'm assuming that whoever is reading this had to put the computer down for a day or two in order to recover. anyway, speaking of babies and social media, baby pictures are a great way to increase your number of followers on facebook/twitter/whateverotherthing you're into. so if you really need to up your followers/friend requests, just have a baby. it's that simple!

ok, i'm going to need a moment to contemplate whether some kids out there are actually going to take my advice and get pregnant. so while i do that i'll let you know what else i've been up to.

Of course i've been playing for Stellar Kart as i have been for almost two years now. most of the winter has been spent flying around the country playing shows and trying to talk our way into the delta skyclub without having to use a pass. the last month or so we've been on tour with Me In Motion and Finding Favour while also filling in on some Revolve Tour dates. Jamie Grace has been on the Revolve shows so of course we asked her to come sing the Princess Jasmine part of A Whole New World.

in addition to all the SK touring, i was able to actually do a whole tour with my wife's band Superchick. I got to fill in on guitar for a west coast tour where we went through Montana, Utah, Nevada, California and about 6 shows in Arizona. seriously. it was practically the Arizona tour. it was actually good timing cause i got to be on the road with my wife while she was 7 months pregnant. and let me say she is a trooper for traveling on a bus with a basketball sized baby in her bee-yella. and if you don't believe me, here's proof:

and of course, when it rains, it pours. in that same time frame Tricia played about 15 worship nights for her solo project. i play guitar for her on those as well. let's just say i've been pretty busy playing over the last couple months. and by the way, let me insert a bit of shameless self-promotion. ever since tricia's worship record was released last june we've been playing worship events whenever our schedule allows and it's actually been going very well. if you are interested in having Tricia perform a worship night or just come to your church to lead worship, send an email to booking@triciabrockmusic.com

ok, now that that's out of the way, let's get to the studio side of things. obviously i haven't spent much time recording, but in the past month i've been focusing on new music for Stellar Kart. by the way, i have two new additions to my studio that have made a HUGE difference in the overall vibe - and neither of them have anything to do with gear. the first is a nice leather couch. first of all, it's wayyyyy more comfortable than what i had before, and secondly it's actually changed the acoustics of my control room for the better. my low end is a lot tighter and more manageable with it. the other new acquisition is an electronic dart board. i know this sounds stupid, but me and @adamagee and @jeremihough play all the time. and part of what makes a studio a good studio is the vibe it creates. the more comfortable, relaxed and creative a person feels, the better the recording will turn out to be. i'd rather have second rate gear with a good vibe than the best gear with a horrible vibe.

anyway, the new SK stuff is actually pretty exciting. everyone we've showed it to is pretty stoked on it. i'll let you know more as it happens.

so that's what's been going on. i'd like to write more, but Billy Madison is on TV and i'd kinda rather watch that than write. soooooooo, see you all later.

the rules of Disney pop - the skill in writing crappy music

lately i've been studying disney pop from a songwriting point of view. and by disney pop i mean bands, singers and artist that you hear if you or a kid you know watches the disney channel or nickelodeon. yes, i know i know. nickelodeon is not disney. but both networks have artists who have their own TV shows and are geared towards young kids....and will probably grow up to be pill popping alcoholics with nothing to live for once their fountain of youth has run dry and they get their first wrinkle. so really when i say disney pop, that doesn't necessarily mean they're with disney. i'm just using that as a blanket term for teenie boppers.

some people think writing a song that is your own style is the most credible thing you can do. i would actually disagree. i mean, yes, you get more indie cred that way, but in terms of pure skill, writing a song within certain parameters and limitations while still being successful is a wonderful skill. for instance, take worship music. a lot of writers think worship music is the easiest and most generic music to write which requires very little skill. and to a certain degree, they are right. if you're trying to write a passable worship song, just throw together a few chords (preferably in G - God's favorite key, of course) and use some throwaway christian lyrics.

HOWEVER, i'm not talking about a passable christian song, i'm talking about a good one. in a worship song there is a certain tone of lyrics that are acceptable. and the song can't be too wordy. it must be simple for the congregation to sing. melodically it must flow a certain way - the melody can't jump any crazy intervals. the rules are incredibly narrow. but if you have the skill to work within those rules (or to successfully break them) and make a song that is successful, well that requires serious skill. "How Great Is Our God" by Chris Tomlin is, in my opinion, one of the best worship songs ever written. It's simple, easy to learn, catchy, reverent, modern yet still has a hymn-like quality to it. genius is not confusing people with complex intellect or skill - genius is making what is hard to understand seem simple. and "how he loves" by jon mark mcmillan is a wonderful example of breaking the rules but still making it work. his lyrics don't have the typical vibe and are actually way too poetic for a worship song, but somehow it works. you may or may not agree with me based on your view about the "sloppy wet kiss line" haha

i had this revelation about worship music last year as we were working on @superchicktrish's worship record as i sat in co-write session after co-write session trying to write worship songs as good as Tomlin or Crowder and realized it's actually really hard.

so back to disney. i've been studying disney and teenie bopper bands and singers lately - Jonas Brothers, Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Hot Chelle Rae, etc...

Here's a few observations about Disney pop songs:

1. a higher percentage of disney pop songs are about love than the rest of the pop charts. like, if the rest of music is 50% love songs, disney pop is 75% about love.

2. the next most popular subject are what i call party songs. this is basically any sort of fun song that doesn't say much except to have a good time. i probably just insulted your intelligence by trying to explain what a party song is. anyway, i'd have to say love songs and party songs account for about 95% of all disney pop. and it makes sense. in high school all anybody thinks about is relationships and parties. haha

3. if you're writing a song for a teenage artist, it's natural to want to bring the lyrical content down to their level. for instance - talking about going to a school dance or whatever. but lyrically it's just the opposite. teenagers always want to be older so frequently their lyrics talk about subjects that are probably way beyond their years. when a 13 year old justin bieber sings about heartbreak, none of us really believe that he's really been through a serious breakup.

4. it's more about how the lyric rolls off the tongue than if it is well-written or poetic. for instance, take the first two lines from Tonight Tonight by Hot Chelle Rae which is currently all over top 40 radio:

"We're going at it tonight tonight

There's a party on the rooftop top of the world"

that second line doesn't make sense. yes, we know what he's saying, but "rooftop top of the world" is kind of gobbledeegook. but who cares!?!? it's catchy. that's my point. start listening to these songs, google their lyrics and you'll find this type of stuff all over the place. i didn't really understand this concept until a couple of years ago when i was in germany. i heard a song on the radio that intrigued me. at the time i didn't know any german but the phonetic sound of the lyrics just appealed to me. it just sounded cool even though i had no idea what he was saying. the song was "Haus am See" by Peter Fox. you can see the video here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vq4cyu35M6Q

anyway, with younger people and kids it's more about the melody and the beat. and when they go to college everybody gets serious and artsy and they start to care about lyrics.

those are my observations. hopefully some of the you songwriters out there find this helpful? i'm guessing the rest of you won't care. but hey, it's my blog and i'll do what i want. (how very childish and disney of me :))

1984 or 1776?

president obama just signed a bill into law known as the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA for short. You can read pretty much everything you need to know about it HERE.

one of the things that the 5th ammendment to the US constitution guarantees is the right of due process. that means if you stand accused of a crime, you have a right to a trial, legal representation, etc. the government cannot throw someone in jail for no reason. or even if their is a reason, they can't just keep them in jail indefinitely without giving a trial. however, this new bill gives the government the right detain indefinitely anybody who they consider a terrorist. while this may sound ok to some people, what's discomforting especially is that the definition of a "terrorist" is incredibly broad. if a US citizen is detained as a terrorist, the government, by law, doesn't even have to state the charges, i.e., the reason for detainment. let alone a trial.

i just sent this message to my representatives in congress:

I am incredibly upset that you voted for the NDAA bill. This bill deprives citizens of their constitutional right to due process. How can a public servant who swears an oath to protect the constitution sleep soundly at night when you vote to tear it to shreds?

i don't care if this bill would help fight terrorists. i don't care if the passage of this bill were to somehow magically end Al Qaeda. i don't care how many lives this bill theoretically "saves". by taking away our right of due process to save lives, you are inadvertently throwing away the lives of those who have fought and died in defense of those rights.

shame on you [representative name]. shame on you. i promise that i will be voting against you in the next election.

All I Want For Christmas

i love christmas. many of you may even know that my birthday is on christmas. so this time of year is like a cornucopia of presents for me. most people get presents throughout the year, but i pile it all into one lump sum like a white trash lottery winner. but here's one thing that is kinda unfortunate (and i'm speaking in a 1st world problems sort of way). when you're a kid, the stuff you want doesn't cost much. now that i'm older, all the toys i want cost hundreds and thousands of dollars. expensive guitars and amps, pricey guns and studio gear aren't exactly stocking stuffers. but a couple years ago i had a wonderful experience. as a joke, my parents bought me and my two brothers-in-law one of those toy RC helicopters. i played with that thing CONSTANTLY. that year i had a revelation that from now on, i want TOYS for christmas. and i really mean toys.

do yourself a favor. get up early and turn your tv on nickelodeon or some other channel with cartoons. now wait for the commercials. and pick your jaw up off the floor and try to comprehend how awesome toys are nowadays. i mean seriously, when i was a kid we had GI Joes and legos. i got so bored with toys that i pulled out pots and pans and made my own drum set. the stuff they have now is ridiculously awesome. here's a few

1. RC Helicopters/Planes/Cars/Boats, etc.

radio controlled cars have been around since i was a kid, but now we have RC helicopters and planes. and yes, smart aleck, that stuff did exist years ago, but they were high priced hobby-grade models that were a serious endeavor. i'm talking about the $30 impulse buy that provides hours of fun to a newbie and will break a few hours later. the company Air Hogs makes tons of different flying RC stuff. i have the most fun hovering the helicopter a few feet in the air and watching my dogs go crazy trying to jump at it and catch it.

2. ANYTHING FROM NERF

when i was a kid, nerf made footballs and that's about it. nerf meant taking regular sports balls and make them soft and squishy. now Nerf has become training ground for kids who grow up building their own assault rifles. the guns look like something out of a space age war movie. they have semi-auto and fully auto rifles that shoot a barrage of soft projectiles to give you all the real fun of murdering people without the messy cleanup. the next tour i'm on, i want to have everybody get nerf guns and have a giant nerf fight one day.

3. Xploderz Water Guns

when i was a kid a squirt gun was exactly that. a little piece of plastic shaped like a gun that squirt out little whisps of water. now kids have super-soakers that can drench a kid from a half mile away and now this - the Xploderz water gun. this water shoots projectile beads of water kinda like a paint gun. i mean, how cool is this? i want to go get this now.

4. Lego

do i really have to explain the awesomeness of Legos??

5. Video Games

when i was a kid we had video games, but this is what i had to look at -

i mean, don't get me wrong. i love me some mario bros. but how can those 8 bit graphics compare to the realism of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3?? i mean, seriously, this stuff looks like it's REAL

when we all get older, we start asking for lame gifts. clothes and socks and tools and scented candles. i mean, seriously?? if you are to the point where you don't really want anything or really care about christmas, ask for toys!! you save a lot of money and it's seriously way more fun.

i'm going to be a daddy in april. and one of the coolest aspects is that to a certain degree i get to be a kid again. for instance, if i were to go play on the playground and jump around on the inflatables people would look at me funny and maybe call me crazy or think there's something wrong with. HOWEVER, if i do all those same things with my kid, then all of the sudden i'm a good father. go figure.

the inevitable

the other night i watched the republican debate on foreign policy. i know what you're thinking - this is gonna be one of his political blogs. well, yes. deal with it. and honestly i won't get too far into it. i recently posted something about Iran on my facebook and it erupted into a huge ordeal as facebook posts tend to do. anyway, the whole thing got me thinking about a theory i have. full disclosure - i didn't come up with this one. i got it from a former boss years ago, however i have modified it a bit. i gave it a new paint job, spoiler and installed a new stereo.

my political views. narcissist much?

my theory isn't necessary a republican or democrat belief. however it's a philosophical foundation that can make or break certain aspects of foreign policy from both parties. ok here it goes:

A nation's leadership and government is, for the most part, a reflection of what the people want and deserve based on their culture as a whole.

another way to say it is that in the same way that the unseen market forces of supply and demand determine the price of goods, so do the values of a given culture or nation determine the type of government and leaders they have.

this may seem counter-intuitive. for instance, probably half the people reading this voted for obama and the other half didn't - statistically speaking. but i'm not talking about minor differences between a republican or democrat. we as americans put a high value on life, personal liberties and self reliance, therefore we have a government system that has more protections of those values than any other country. our presidents may disagree on a few things, but they're all relatively the same compared to leaders of other countries. and what's funny is how the problems of the nation are so similar to the problems of individual citizens. americans are up to their ears in credit card debt while at the same time the nation is trillions of dollars in debt. our nation worries about health care while we as individuals are the fattest we've ever been (myself included).

europeans have similar values, and thus, similar style governments and leaders - usually elected, well spoken leaders wearing suits (as opposed to military garb) making decisions about trade rules and arcane social issues. however in societies when human life and personal liberties are valued less, you typically find more oppressive regimes with military dictators whose strength, while derived from their ruthlessness, is also what holds the country together. look at sadaam hussein. if you study anything about him, it becomes clear that he was very cut-throat and bludgeoned his way into power. however, iraq has for a long time been divided between different sects of islam so it's no wonder a military baathist dictator was the only thing that could keep order. and from a culture that sanctions "honor killings" as a normal way of life, it's no surprise they tolerated hussein using mustard gas on his own citizens.

if a leader of government grows too far out of step with what a culture wants, they rise up. it's as natural as water seeking the lowest place. some people would have us believe that whole countries are being held hostage by a certain political leader but this is false. a leader derives his power from the people he leads. and while he may be able to stretch how far they're willing to let him go for a time, eventually they will rise up for change when needed.

some of the worst dictatorships are those in tribal africa. how much of a coincidence is it that they are in countries with different tribes constantly at war with each other amoung people who regularly commit atrocities to their neighbors. when the local pillars of a society are telling the people that the only way to get rid of AIDS is to rape an infant, is it really a surprise that a leader like Mugabe exists?

there is a lot of beauty in different cultures, but not all cultures are equal. some value human life more than others. some are decidedly more evil, and their government and leadership are just an extension of those values.

so that's my theory. the real test is in the application of that theory. for instance, take the concept of spreading democracy to other nations. over the centuries, euro and american culture evolved into democracies because it was what their values demanded. it happened naturally. and while certain monarchies worked hard to hold it back, in the end there was nothing they could do to hold the tide of democracy back. if democracy is what a country wants, then it WILL have it. it might take a few years, but it WILL happen. the whole notion of american troops going into a country that has, by all means, chosen a different system, and we think we can change their culture as well as government to match our own is a bit ridiculous. why are military generals afraid to pull out of iraq and afghanistan? because they know the people are just going to go back to the way it was before.

for years our CIA has aided certain political figures in the middle east in their rise to power. these same leaders have essentially been puppets of the american government. and although it has worked out for us for a few decades, eventually the people and the culture get what they want. look at what's been happening with the whole arab spring thing?? our puppet in egypt has been replaced by a leader that represents the people and their beliefs. the same can be said for syria. our CIA helped prop up a puppet leader in Iran in the 60s, but eventually the people rose up and now they have a state run by sharia law. and i believe in the next decade or so we will see a transition to a more westernized way. and how? consumerism. young muslims love western culture - video games, music, movies. i mean, who wouldn't? but the difference here is that the shift (when it does eventually happen) will happen because that shift was in the hearts and minds of the people, not just because a new leader was installed.

i'm not saying this to side with either political party. and i'm not trashing certain cultures. i'm trying to remove any passion or emotion from the argument and just make it a rational fact. the point is, once you recognize this basic philosophy, it can dramatically affect the way certain foreign policy decisions are made.