Apocryphal Tale

World View

When people of the world look at the “Greatest Democracy”, the United States, they shake their heads.  From the outside looking in, America is in a desperate battle to maintain democracy against a more authoritarian form of government. Many Nations are following President Biden’s lead in defending Ukraine, boycotting Russia, confronting China and improving the climate.  But they are also hedging their bets.  If Biden (or whomever the Democrats ultimately choose) were to lose to Trump, then US policy would completely flip.  How far are those allies willing to gamble on a mere two-year “lease” on the White House?

 From inside the US it might seem like “just more politics”.  But put all of the issues of the day together:  curtailed abortion rights and book banning, partisan gerrymandering and dark money election funding, one political party against  the Insurrection,  and the other making the instigators into heroes.  There is a government funded school firing a principal for showing sixth graders a picture of Michelangelo’s David, and multiple states write anti-transgender laws that attack the very few trans-kids for political “points”.   Florida claims to do all this in the name of “parent’s right to raise their own kids”, as they quickly tell parents exactly how they are allowed do it.  

Run the Clock

Our former President, Donald Trump, is running for office again, despite multiple investigations into his potential lawbreaking.   One critical reason for him to run:  to regain the immunity from prosecution that the Constitution provides the Presidency.  If Trump could only get re-elected in 2024, he would be “safe” until 2028, when the statute of limitations for many of those charges would finally run out. As he is currently seventy-six years old, maybe his own life will as well.

But we aren’t the only world Democracy in trouble.  American allies like Turkey, Hungary, Italy, and Poland all are “leaning right”.  Hungary in particular has become a “testing ground” of authoritarian governing, and serves as the example for American leaders like Trump, DeSantis, Abbott and Huckabee-Sanders.   

In the Streets

Israel is also in a national crisis on this same issue.  The “only Democracy in the Middle East” has a Prime Minister accused of corruption and facing trial, who decided to reduce the powers of the Judiciary to hold “him” accountable.  How important is it to Prime Minister Netanyahu to get this change?  He is willing to have this crisis, fire his Defense Minister, and endure months of hundreds of thousands of protestors in the streets.  Even the core Israeli institution, the Army, is impacted.   Thousands of the all-important reservists refused to report to duty.

Like Trump here in the United States, Netanyahu denies all wrong doing, and scoffs in the face of facts and the press.  The terms are all familiar:  “fake news” and “a biased media”.  But it hasn’t changed the pressure from the crowds in the street.  In this case they are fighting to maintain democracy against an authoritarian claim of immunity from prosecution.  And, also like the US, Israel is narrowly divided politically, with five general elections in the past three years.  In the end, Netanyahu is taking Israel down this dangerous path for his own self-preservation.

Lessons to Learn

America might learn some lessons from Israel.  First, we should divorce personal criminal issues from the greater goals of our Nation.  Even if some agree with the draconian educational changes, the restrictive laws, and the “election police”; that shouldn’t crossover to protecting politicians from the consequences of their illegal acts.  

Second, the people of Israel are in the streets, demanding Democracy.  Perhaps Americans need to do the same.  The Black Lives Matter marches of 2020 did make a difference, as did the student led marches against gun violence.  Maybe Americans need to follow the Israeli lead and get out on the streets, before the 2024 elections, before some of these draconian measures take effect, and before we lose our democratic traditions.  It’s a lot to ask a Nation that is worn from controversy and divisiveness since even before Trump came on the political scene.  

But the alternative is unthinkable.