When people of the world look at the \u201cGreatest Democracy\u201d, 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\u2019s 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 \u201clease\u201d on the White House?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From inside the US it might seem like \u201cjust more politics\u201d. 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\u2019s David, and multiple states write anti-transgender laws that attack the very few trans-kids for political \u201cpoints\u201d. Florida claims to do all this in the name of \u201cparent\u2019s right to raise their own kids\u201d, as they quickly tell parents exactly how they are allowed do it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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 \u201csafe\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But we aren\u2019t the only world Democracy in trouble. American allies like Turkey, Hungary, Italy, and Poland all are \u201cleaning right\u201d. Hungary in particular has become a \u201ctesting ground\u201d of authoritarian governing, and serves as the example for American leaders like Trump, DeSantis, Abbott and Huckabee-Sanders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Israel is also in a national crisis on this same issue. The \u201conly Democracy in the Middle East\u201d has a Prime Minister accused of corruption and facing trial, who decided to reduce the powers of the Judiciary to hold \u201chim\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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: \u201cfake news\u201d and \u201ca biased media\u201d. But it hasn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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 \u201celection police\u201d; that shouldn\u2019t crossover to protecting politicians from the consequences of their illegal acts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u2019s a lot to ask a Nation that is worn from controversy and divisiveness since even before Trump came on the political scene. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the alternative is unthinkable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"