Why did one straw break the camel's back?

The current government in Iran has already lost their power. They just don't know it yet. Abbas Milani explains why at TNR here.

Before coming to power, Khomeini argued that the most important duty, indeed the raison d'etre of an Islamic government, was to implement fully the tenets of sharia. But once in power and faced with the complexities of modern Iranian society, he subtly changed the very foundation of his theory. He introduced the concept of maslaha--interests of the regime--and declared, much to the consternation of nearly every other ayatollah, that these interests, as determined by him or his successor, would supersede even the fundamentals of Islam. In other words, the state was everything--and sharia was nothing but its legitimizing narrative, a narrative that could be suspended at the will of the leader.

Khomeini's entire platform for legitimacy, for the existence of his government and his unquestionable power as Supreme Leader was based on a sham that he didn't believe in. Up until June 12, 2009 the people of Iran didn't take notice and most didn't even care... ..and then the other shoe dropped. This is a must read from an anonymous Iranian at Salon. "And Still Our Vote Mattered"

That the vote was against Ahmadinejad there can be no doubt. Consider this: Over the 30-year history of the Islamic Republic of Iran, some 30 percent of the population has never voted. These are the true disbelievers, citizens who take pride in having a blank shenasname, or identity booklet. They are the friends and family members who take every opportunity to remind the rest of us, at the dinner table, caught in traffic, sitting in the park, that voting is a mistake, that you ought not participate in a system that is at its core rotten. Except ... Except this time a good half of these nonbelievers came. They came, pulled, pleaded -- coaxed into voting by sons and daughters. They came this year, dramatically reversing what had been a steady decline in participation, lifting turnout to heights not seen since the early days of the Revolution. With the much ballyhooed rural vote already in the bank for the president, the only place left for Ahmadinejad to make up his reported 6 to 8 million new votes was with the apostates. Are we really to believe, as some are now insisting, that these many millions showed up to vote for the incumbent? There's no doubt the vote mattered. Had we not voted, had we not stood in line and suffered this fate together, then we would not have come to the square, we would not be climbing the rooftops every night to sing protests that our votes were so clumsily and needlessly taken away. The fact is that up until four Saturdays ago, Iran's system, with all of its limitations and compromises, was not completely rotten. Our peculiar democracy permitted faith in a residual uncertainty, in the possibility that the guy who can't possibly win, whom they won't let win, still just might. June 12, 2009, ended that uncertainty, brought clarity.

Freedom won't come easy or quick for the Iranian people . Obvious at this point is the Iranian Government's willingness do absolutely anything, including killing women and children to keep their power. What I don't get is the Iranian government seems to be missing the point. The more violence they use, the more martyrs they create, the stronger the resistance becomes. They are force feeding direct power and energy to a non-violent movement growing in the purest spirit of Gandhi and King. The harder the government of Iran thrashes, the more likely the outcome becomes. Insha'Allah.