Threats to Democracy

When I started this blog more than 10 years ago, I was afraid I would run out of material but even local news headlines never fail to come through. Here are some from last Friday's CT Post.

Headline: 9/22/23: Primary Crisis affects all of Conn.

Like clockwork, we watch for skullduggery in Bridgeport, at every election, or at least allegations of misdeeds, and more often than not the state’s largest city comes through. Now we’re living through a repeat of the 2019 mayoral primary when a challenger to Mayor Joe Ganim won the machine vote on primary day, then lost the election due to Ganim’s superior performance in absentee ballots, then accused Ganim supporters of wrongdoing. 

Comment: The front-page lead article in last Friday’s CT Post by reporter Dan Haar indicated that election fraud has long been the norm in Bridgeport, Connecticut’s largest city. As the headline indicated Harr ‘s concern was not just with the local Democratic primary but with its potential impact on the whole state. He believed that absentee ballot fraud would just heighten voter suspicion concerning the fairness and validity of all elections in the minds of the electorate. Moreover, he argued that Bridgeport’s absentee ballot accusations might ruin the chances of next year’s proposed referendum to provide unlimited, no-excuse absentee ballot for all.

Despite the misuse of absentee ballots, Democratic reformers just want to expand their usage. They believe that this will lead to greater voter participation and expand democracy. Reformers regard opposition to unlimited absentee voting as a threat to democracy. Bridgeport is Connecticut’s largest city with a population of about 150,000. In the last mayoral election in 2019, less than 15,000 people voted. The Democratic incumbent received 9,500 votes, twice as much as his nearest competitor, another Democrat, received. The Republican candidate got only 1583 votes. Once the incumbent won the Democratic primary, it was all over.

Most of the large cities in Blue-State Connecticut resemble Bridgeport. They are one party cities run by a political machine. If history is any guide, absentee balloting has always worked to increase their stranglehold on government. Unlimited absentee balloting will just play into their hands. Of course, when Democrats complain about election fraud, they are exercising their rights. Newspaper articles support them, and commissions are appointed to investigate. But when Republicans complain about fraud, they are considered to be threats to democracy, and they become the objects of investigation and prosecution.

Actually, the real threat to Democracy in this country can be seen in some other headlines in that same issue of the CT. Post.

 Headline 1: Suspect claims he wasn’t involved in carjacking.

“Freed on bond Thursday, a Berlin man, charged in connection with the carjacking of an Aston Martin from a Westport garage claimed his arrest had been a mistake …. Mcgill was referring to video police released to media showing two masked men, one of whom hits the owner of the luxury sports car, in the garage of the victim’s Bayberry Lane home on Sunday afternoon before driving off with the car.

McGill was arrested Monday at this Berlin home after police said they found the stolen Aston Martin in Mcgill’s garage along with a Porsche Macan GTS reported stolen in Rhode Island, a BMW X4 stolen in Ridgefield, a BMW sedan and a BMW sport utility vehicle stolen in Westport.”

Headline 2: Video shows a Fairfield business owner and customer stop car theft.

“Marc Vitaliani, the owner of the Auto Spa in Fairfield, said he and a customer foiled a brazen daytime car theft attempt last week. Vitaliani was within 10 feet of a red BMW M3, that was being detailed at the Post Road business when four people showed up in a BMW X6 and attempted to steal the vehicle… The male suspect who tried to drive off with the car was wearing a mask …"

Headline 3: 3 Bridgeport men arrested on drug, gun charges during shooting probe.

“Three city men were arrested on Sanford Avenue Tuesday night after being found with drugs and a gun according to police ….

During the interaction, [Police officer] Gilleran said, Tyree Heard, 24, was found to be in possession of illegal narcotics, packaged for sale and a .45 caliber semiautomatic handgun with a high capacity magazine. Gilleran said the firearm also has its serial number altered.”

Headline 4: Bridgeport man, 27, sentenced to over 4 years on gang-related charges.

“A city man was sentenced to over four years in prison for his involvement in a violent street gang, according to officials. …

East end gang members distributed heroin, crack cocaine, marijuana and Percoset pills, used and shared firearms, and committed at least six murders and other acts of violence against rival gang members and other individuals, the release said.”

The rampant crime in our city streets is the real threat to democracy. If unchecked, it will lead to mob rule where whole neighborhoods are terrorized by gang members. Ultimately, mob rule leads to dictatorship of one form or another.

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Two Russian Films

 

                                

 

As the war between Russia and Ukraine drags on, I recall my almost lifelong fascination with Russia. I suppose it started with literature during my high school and college years. I never took a formal course on Russian literature, but I read War and Peace, Crime and Punishment, the Brothers Karamazov and others with fascination although perhaps little understanding. A few years later I discovered the novels and histories of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, one of the greatest and most influential authors of the twentieth century. Just a couple of years ago I waded through The Icon and the Axe, James Billington’s magisterial study of Russian history and culture.

Today, I doubt if any of my college educated grandchildren have ever read or will read any of these great authors. I doubt that they have even heard their names. I suppose that their knowledge of Russia, like that of our own politicians, is likely superficial and unhistorical. Since books are too time consuming, and seemingly irrelevant in our age, film may be the only way to provide insights into a country like Russia. Here are brief reviews of two films that shed some light on this diverse country that extends over nine time zones.

 

Dersu Uzala: 

Toward the end of his long and distinguished career Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa was given permission by Soviet authorities to do a film based on the memoir of Russian explorer Vladimir Arsenyev who made a number of mapping expeditions of the vast Siberian wilderness in the years before the Revolution of 1917.  Shot almost entirely on location, the film appeared in 1975 and won the Academy Award for best foreign film. It was also a box office success especially in Russia. 

The title of the film refers to the main character, an uncivilized Mongolian frontiersman, who is taken on as a guide by a Russian surveying crew exploring the Siberian wilderness. The soldiers in the crew perceive Dersu as a naïve and comical relic of an uncivilized age. Dersu is a denizen of the forest who is at one with its creatures. He even talks with fierce tigers. He has no formal religion, but he could be called an animist who respects all living things. He is a hunter but not a killer.

Dersu quickly shows his mettle with displays of knowledge, experience, ingenuity and bravery on more than one occasion. In an unforgettable episode he and the head of the expedition, whom he respectfully calls Capitan, have wandered away from the rest of the crew to a desolate marshland. Alone in this barren expanse Dersu senses that a storm is brewing. He jumps into action and he and the Captain frantically cut long grass to make a little tent where they will shelter from the storm, kept alive overnight only by their body heat. The Captain realizes that he owes his life to Dersu. 

In the end the film is not about a mapping expedition but about the intrusion of civilization into a primitive world which will inevitably have to give way. The nineteenth century history of ancient Russia and the new United States is very similar. Americans headed west to explore and settle a vast continent inhabited by primitive tribal people, and Russians headed east to explore, settle, and encounter equally primitive tribes. Some of the primitive people, like Dersu Uzala, could be called “noble savages” but others were not so noble. On the other hand, some of the civilized people were not so civilized. 

The film is beautifully photographed, and the action scenes are amazing for a pre-special effects world. Even more beautiful is the depiction of the growing friendship and mutual respect between the Captain and Dersu. Finally, the film comes with excellent subtitles that do a fine job of reproducing Dersu’s dialect.

 

“12”:

In 2007 Russian filmmaker Nikita Mikhalkov produced, directed, wrote, and acted in “12”, a film based on the American drama and film “Twelve Angry Men.” Mikhalkov won a special award at the Venice film festival that year, and his film also received an Academy Award nomination for best foreign film. The film is a masterpiece that far exceeds the earlier American version in power and intensity. 

The film also opens a window, actually twelve windows, into post-Soviet Russia. 12 refers to the twelve jurors who are hearing a case involving a young man accused of murdering his stepfather. Complicating matters is the fact that the young man is a Chechen, a member of that ethnic group that has never been fully assimilated into Russian society. Chechens are, at the same time, hated and feared by most Russians. Alexander Solzhenitsyn claimed that even Gulag prison guards feared the Chechen prisoners who often terrorized the other prisoners.

The film, however, is not about the prisoner but about the jurors. These twelve men, each represents an aspect of Russian life after the fall of Communism. They are a diverse group that includes, among others, a successful post-communist businessman, a doctor educated in Moscow but originally from the provinces, a Russian TV executive, a former Soviet bureaucrat who fondly remembers the good old days of Communism, and even a bigoted cab driver.

The case against the young man seems open and shut but doubts arise. Inevitably, each juror reveals himself in dealing with what turns out to be a very complicated case. In revealing their own stories, they tell us more about modern Russia than we will ever find in our own media.

As mentioned above the film is powerful and intense, and filled with often mysterious flashbacks that eventually come together like pieces in a puzzle. But most of the power and intensity takes place in the makeshift jury room where twelve fine actors strut their stuff.

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Republican Debate Impressions

 

In the recent Republican Presidential debate the eight candidates did little to help themselves in their uphill struggle against former President Donald Trump. To paraphrase an old expression, the messenger is the message, and so let’s look at the candidates. What impression did these candidates give?

 

First, some left little impression. At one end Asa Hutchinson, despite his age and experience, looked like he was running for president in the nineteenth century. At the other end of the stage Governor Borghum of North Dakota did not demonstrate that he was ready for prime time. Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina gave the impression that he was running for Vice-President. Senators rarely make good candidates for the Presidency. 

 

Nikki Haley, the former Governor of South Carolina, and the only woman in the field, claimed that former President Donald Trump is the most hated man in America. As I heard these words, I wondered if she realized that she would become the most hated woman in America if, by some miracle, she became the Republican nominee. Can she be blind to the reality that with social media and an incredibly biased mainstream media, it is possible to demonize any Republican and turn them into objects of mass hatred?

 

Former Governor Chris Christie provided another example of a blind politician. His claim to fame is that he was elected Governor of blue state New Jersey, but he failed to point out that he bungled the job, and that now New Jersey is bluer than ever. Moreover, he launched an all- out attack on Trump despite the fact that the former President enjoys overwhelming support among Republican voters. Is he running for the Republican or Democratic nomination?

 

That leaves former Vice President Mike Pence, Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, and billionaire outlier Vivek Ramaswamy. In a better world, Trump and Pence would have been re-elected in 2020, and in 2024 Mike Pence would naturally have become the Republican nominee. He did defend the achievements of the Trump administration during the debate, but right or wrong January 6 makes him persona non grata among Trump diehards. He is knowledgeable, experienced, and competent but lacks charisma and fire. He would be better off running for Senator from Indiana.

 

I thought that Governor DeSantis did a good job at the debate although at times he seemed a little strident. I do think he is too young for the Presidency. I cannot understand the mentality of a man with two young children who will expose them to the stress of the Presidency. I still believe it would be better for him to mend his fences with Trump and become his running mate. After all, Kamala Harris practically called Joe Biden a racist but still was chosen to be his running mate. If elected, Trump will be a lame duck and would need an heir apparent in 2028. No one fits that bill better than DeSantis.

 

Finally, I thought Vivek Ramaswamy was a breath of fresh air. He had the best lines of the night. He unabashedly called Trump the best President of the 21^stcentury. I know that’s not saying much since the others were George Bush, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden but he gave credit where credit was due, not like the others. He was not afraid to claim that the climate change movement was a hoax. It was interesting that neither the other candidates nor the moderators challenged him on this statement. Then, he was alone in opposing arms for Ukraine, and a further escalation of that war. I do not know where this dynamic young man will end up in politics, but it seems to me he represents the wave of the future.

 

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