Supporting democracy is hard work - From the Cluttered Desk with Keith Roulston

As I write, Iran has recently attacked Israel, sending more than 300 drones and missiles on Saturday night, all but a few knocked down by Israel’s “Iron Dome” defence system. The Iranian assault was prompted by an April 1 Israeli attack on Iran’s consulate in Damascus, Syria that killed 12 Iranians.

 

Polls show that Israeli voters have lost faith in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who refuses to consider peace talks, insisting he must wipe out the Hamas organization that began the current conflict with an October attack on Israel which took more than 1,000 lives and several hundred civilian hostages.

 

Iran’s dictatorial government also has many native opponents since harsh assaults on protesters after the death of a woman who was attacked by government officials because they felt her hair covering was not complete because, apparently, a bit of her hair was observed.

 

Meanwhile, some of the drones Russia’s dictatorial President Vladimir Putin used in his war against Ukraine were apparently supplied by Iran.

 

And Donald Trump, former U.S. President and apparent Republican choice as their 2024 candidate in this fall’s election, because he’s an old friend of Putin’s, has used his influence to keep the U.S. House of Representatives from approving President Joe Biden’s aid to Ukraine to help fight off Russian attacks.

 

What has happened to make dictatorial power so prevalent in the world these days? We in Canada are closest to the U.S. situation where, despite providing billions of dollars to fix highways and bridges and other public utilities in most U.S. states, Biden is apparently, polls say, in a life-and-death battle with Trump. Trump, meanwhile, promises to be a dictator, but only on day one of his presidency as he frees the thousand or so “hostages” legally imprisoned by courts for taking part in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 in an attempt to prevent current President Biden from taking office after officially winning the U.S. election.

 

This is the same Trump who is friendly with dictators like Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean President Kim Jong Un. As well, Trump is an open admirer of Hungary’s dictatorial Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, and invited him, last month, to his Florida estate.

 

What is it with all the dictators these days? I’m old enough to remember the 1956 Hungarian uprising as freedom-loving Hungarians rose against the Communist dictatorship installed by Moscow after the Russian army drove the Nazis out of Hungary at the end of World War II. That revolt was vanquished and it was 30 years before Communism eventually disintegrated in Russia and the countries it had controlled, like Hungary, Poland and eastern Germany, were set free. I remember joyful celebrations when Germans tore down the wall that divided Germany.

 

Meanwhile Russians, under Democratic rule for the first time in their history, showed they were uncomfortable with it. Oh, they were happy to not have to line up to buy limited supplies at the stores, but they weren’t so sure about democracy. The soon-elected Putin, a former officer with the secret police under Communism, but now a billionaire after former government officials were able to take control of government-run companies, became president, and he has manipulated the electoral rules to stay there for more than 20 years.

 

But it’s countries like Hungary, and prior to that, Poland, that are mystifying. Having gained democracy, both countries have flirted with dictatorship. Poland only recently discarded a president who tried to rule as a dictator. Hungary has been accepting of one.

 

The world has been shaken to its very roots by the changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Even in Canada, people are in a bad mood, as shown by the unpopularity of the current Prime Minister and the popularity of a Conservative leader who doesn’t invite dreams of wisdom. But, disturbed by the pandemic, we have inflation and higher food prices and as we’re looking for someone to blame, the government seems a handy target.

 

The same seems to hold true south of the border. Higher food prices seem to be shaping the selection of the next president more than the good work Biden has done to improve highways which doesn’t match the very personal cost of inflated food. As so, apparently, about half the country is ready to support Trump, who makes the battle all about his own legal fight over more than 90 legal charges that he blames on Biden.

 

Democracy is hard for those of us who get to choose our government. We must put an effort into choosing who will be the wisest choice to lead us, not who we’re mad at because we’re currently hurting. Democracy calls on us to make hard choices for our own long-term benefit.