The clerics control the levers of power and the guns, but so did the shah. Even though the ayatollah and his minions are far more ruthless than the shah had been, the country they rule is changing. Forty percent of the population is under twenty-five. In 1980, 37 percent of the people were literate; today 81 percent are. There are more women in Iranian universities than men. In the first Iranian parliament forty years ago, 61 percent of the members were clerics; today they make up only 6 percent.
