The End Of Any Legitimacy

Salon has a report from an anonymous writer In Iran:

[W]hile the obvious theft of the election has enraged and disappointed millions, the action now is to demonstrate that folks aren't just going to take it. This was clearly a bad strategy on the part of the leadership as they could have easily given another 10 to 20 years of energy to the system by sacrificing the current president. Legitimacy, much debated by social scientists, actually turns out to matter. It's not just force that rules, though that appears to be the case right now in Iran...Nine-year old sons accompanied their fathers to vote, standing in line for hours. That disappointment will not be easily remedied -- it will never be healed.