WASHINGTON — As Iranians took to the streets to protest a fraudulent election last month, braving tear gas, batons and bullets, pressure mounted on President Barack Obama to take a tougher stand against the Islamic Republic's repression of peaceful dissent. Some said the president's statements were too soft. Others argued that Obama should refrain from picking sides, lest he present a pretext for hard-liners to label the protesters American stooges.

People began to argue: What should Obama do? I'd like them to ask another question: What should ordinary Americans do?

It's important to recognize the Iranian struggle for what it is: a grass-roots, vital movement for greater liberty enriched by more than a century of struggle against foreign powers, autocratic kings and repressive theocrats. Iran's rulers would have the world believe that the protesters are a minority inspired by foreigners, but this denies a fundamental piece of Iranian history.

For more than 100 years, beginning with an extraordinarily progressive constitution written in 1906, Iranians have been struggling to achieve "azadi," the Persian word for freedom. In recent weeks peaceful protesters have been detained, beaten and killed, yet Iran's constitution purports to protect freedom of assembly, of the press and of belief. Article 23: "The investigation of individuals' beliefs is forbidden, and no one may be molested or taken to task simply for holding a certain belief."

Of course, the constitution offers an array of anti-liberty loopholes, such as freedom of the press "except when it is detrimental to the fundamental principles of Islam." Article 27 notes: "Public gatherings and marches may be freely held" provided "they are not detrimental to the fundamental principles of Islam."

Iranian history is marked by a fitful struggle for freedom, individual liberties and political rights. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, no Jeffersonian democrat, approved a constitution specifying these freedoms because Iran's legacy could not simply be discarded — even if it was wrapped in a blanket of authoritarian loopholes.

The Iranians who revolted in 1979 were seeking justice and freedom. That uprising of students, clerics, merchants, intellectuals, nationalists and Islamists is often referred to as the "Islamic Revolution." It was the culmination of a long struggle to oppose the arbitrary rule of kings, though none expected the result — an Islamic Republic marked by the arbitrary rule of clerical elites.