This year, 2024, is being justifiably hailed as the year of elections. Almost half the world’s population lives in countries that will be voting this year. It should be a global watershed affirming human rights and the rule of law, but a closer look provides only limited reason for celebration.
Consider some of the results to date. In India, in the largest election held in human history, Narendra Modi, the Hindu strongman, won re-election albeit by a surprisingly reduced majority.
The legitimacy of the election is not being questioned, but with some political opponents and journalists locked up because of their opinions, Modi’s ideas on democracy are questionable.
Narendra Modi.
In March, thousands of Russians gathered in Moscow’s Red Square to celebrate Vladimir Putin’s reelection. Three Kremlin-approved losing candidates showed up to give credibility to the charade. Putin allegedly got 86% of the votes cast.
Behind this tightly controlled scene lay a grim reality. Putin’s chief political opponent, Alexey Navalny, died a month earlier in a prison north of the Arctic Circle. No independent commentator doubted that Putin’s hand was marked with the Russian hero’s blood.
In Venezuela, President Nicolas Maduro, the authoritarian who has been in power since 2013, declared himself the winner of the summer elections there. Independent observers cried foul, and Washington has rejected the “official” results.
Outside election experts claim that Maduro lost to opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez by over 30 percentage points—a landslide by any standards.
Democracy protesters in Caracas are being jailed and maltreated. To stay in power, Maduro’s clicking heel will try to crush all opposition with guns and truncheons.
Nicolas Maduro.
Donald Trump had nothing to say about the blatant election thievery in Venezuela. However, he praised the alleged reduction in crime achieved in that country by shifting the “horrible” criminals in Caracas to American cities where they supposedly continue their depraved behavior.
Back in 2000, speaking to an audience in Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, President Bill Clinton assured his listeners that “In the knowledge economy, economic innovation and political empowerment, whether anyone likes it or not, will inevitably go hand in hand.”
In other words, opening the door to all aspects of trade and commerce would inevitably lead to a free discussion about artistic and legal matters.
President Clinton’s views were directed especially at the Chinese, who enthusiastically followed policies that allowed them to compete in all facets of international trade. This project continues to yield massive economic benefits for Beijing. They compete successfully in world markets against the European Union and the United States.
However, the inevitable liberalization that Bill Clinton foresaw has not happened. Instead, the Chinese have designed what has become known as the Great Firewall of China. We are talking about Big Brother controlling all internet communication.
This involves an elaborate system of blocks and filters that prevent internet users in China from accessing particular words and phrases. For instance, they have successfully obliterated the word Tiananmen, where the major democratic revolt took place on June 4th, 1989 - dates that, according to the current all-powerful government in Beijing, have no significance anymore. The cries for freedom that were heard in Tiananmen Square just never happened. Move on!
Those words and many others relating to freedom of thought don’t exist on the internet in China, so there is nothing for the citizens to commemorate or evaluate because the Tiananmen revolt for freedom has been obliterated. Don’t try to research the heroic happenings in Tiananmen in any library in China.
Hong Kong used to enjoy a high level of freedom, with plenty of room for differing opinions on the social and political issues confronting every city. That day is gone, and Beijing now makes all the decisions.
Taiwan, with a population of 24 million, has a recent history of political parties and fair elections. The island's leaders are mostly committed to maintaining their independence, and they have enhanced their defense spending in recent years. President Biden promised them his full support, but it is far from clear that Washington would get involved when the inevitable Beijing invasion of the island takes place in the next few years.
Where does America fit in this maelstrom of ideas and anti-democratic practices evident in China, Russia and other committed totalitarian regimes? It is hard to believe, but an important segment of the American political spectrum is vocally committed to promoting these far-right ideas here.
The American MAGA movement is inherently anti-democratic, propounding the conviction that Washington democracy is degenerate, elections are illegitimate, and that their civilization is dying. The movement’s leaders, headed by Donald Trump, are determined to pump nihilistic ideas into their followers’ minds, including convincing them that nothing they see in democratic politics is true.
Given that both Russian and Chinese actors now blend in so easily with the MAGA messaging operation, it is hardly surprising that the United States government finds it extremely difficult to respond adequately to the new interlinked autocratic propaganda network.
MAGA leaders, firmly in control of the Republican Party, refuse to accept the legitimate results of the last presidential election. Every court rejected Mr. Trump’s claims of voting chicanery. Amazingly, one of the two main political parties in the United States supports this ridiculous assertion that the election system that declared Joe Biden’s November, 2020 victory was undemocratic.
Mr. Trump is again the Republican nominee. He is already asserting that the democratic election system is inherently corrupt, but it will be ok if, as some polls predict, he wins in November. The future of democracy in the United States is in real peril.
Gerry O'Shea blogs at wemustbetalking.com
