It will take a bit of time to tell but I think the revolution in Iran may have tremendous impact on our world.
First, the entire world is watching and supporting an incredibly brave people face down a corrupt & repressive regime. These people are clearly heroes. And they are Muslim, Middle Eastern, and most people assume Arabic. Just as having an African-American in the White House fundamentally changes people's view of African-Americans, this fundamentally changes people's views of Middle-Eastern Muslims. This puts us on the road to being able to establish a strong relationship of equals.
Second, the protesters are not looking to turn Iran into a secular Jeffersonian democracy. But they are looking to turn it into a liberal Muslim state that follows the rule of law. How and to what degree they choose to seperate church & state will be very different from what we did. But keep in mind what we have today is very different from what we first had in the elightenment. The important thing is they are starting down this road. And they have learned that religious leaders, like every other human being, will misuse absolute power.
Third, we now have a swath of countries - Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, & Palestine that are learning how to be democracies. 20 years ago there was not even a glimmer of democratic movement in the middle east. And Iran, unlike every other example, is doing this on its own with no support or encouragement from the U.S. Every remaining regime in the middle east has to be scared shitless by this because their people could choose to do the same thing - totally on their own.
