“I believe Smith is correct. Liberalism isn’t about trusting the little guy anymore, it’s about manipulating him.”

Anymore? Socialism (liberals, progressives, Communists, fascists, what ever you want to call them) has ALWAYS been a tool to control the masses and open the way to power for a despot. Always will be.
Some of us understand that, others don’t. The named coined for those that don’t is “useful fools”.
Useful fool is a very hazardous political position. Once the despot has seized power, the fool is no longer useful. The fool actually becomes a danger, since the newly minted tyrant has absolutely no intention of implementing the changes that the Mob listened to him promise. So they are the first put against the wall, to prevent their use by other wanna-be despots.
So Iran shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that isn’t a useful fool. After all, wasn’t it the students that brought down the Shah in ’79? That generation of useful fools was exterminated. The more practicle students understood all along it was about power, with hte only change being who held it. Now it is they who hold power and they know what to do with this generation of useful fools.
The positive aspect of all this is that the delusion of soft power and non-violent revolution hopefully is done. It was never more then a re-write of history anyway.
Stray random thought; Do you suppose Chavez has a business card that say “Have murderous thugs. Will travel.”