It's not hard to understand the fact that the world sits on the brink of a danger, of our own creation, that is as great as any we have faced in any other crisis in the nuclear age. We are watching as an aggressive dictator attacks a country where the people have never really experienced anything like the kind of liberty and freedom that we take for granted in the country, until the last thirty years. It's modern history is one of being dominated by the Czar's autocratic, feudal empire, then under Soviet communism. During World War 2, it was right in the path of the German blitzkreig, which operated beautifully on the low, flat plains as long as it was dry and warm.
It's cities experienced bombing, shelling and destruction as the German advance moved east, along with Stalin's "scorched earth" policy, and then the German retreat brought another "scorched earch" in reverse. In Kyiv, at a place called Babi Yar, a ravine on the north side of the city, over 100,000 of the city's Jewish residents were murdered by the SS Einstatzgruppen units. Much of the city was left in ruins, along with Kharkiv, where a massive tank battle was fought. And when the war was over, the boundaries of Ukraine, a Soviet province at the time, were pushed to the west, taking territory from pre-war Poland, including the city of Lviv.
Ukraine then endured communist rule once again until the Soviet Union unravelled, and it declared its independence August 24, 1991, followed by a referendum and Presidential election which was held December 1, 1991. Since then, it has been a sovereign, independent country separated from Russia, but still tied by culture and history. Yet, in the time since it declared its independence, the Ukrainian people, who, like so many other countries becoming democracies in the past two hundred years, have been looking to develop their fledgling democracy based on the same ideals and values on which our founding fathers built our country.
Who else does anyone else in the world look up t when they are fighting for independence, freedom and democracy?
The American Model of Freedom, Independence and Representative Democracy
Who else, indeed?
And yet, with what has been happening in this country, especially over the previous four years and the attempted subversion of the constitution by the previous president, it seems that it is now the Ukrainians who are showing us what it means to be patriots, and to defend the liberty that comes with a constitutional, representative democracy.
We have constitutionally guaranteed rights, individual freedom like no other place in the world has it, and in addition to being able to choose our own government leadership, we have virtually unlimited prosperity. Ukrainians had none of that until 1991. But they didn't have to re-invent the wheel, they had the United States to look to as a role model, and that's what they chose to do in their first free election. They set up a representative, constitutional democracy. And they have kept trying to make it work in spite of situations and circumstances which worked against it, including lack of experience and past history.
Giving people the right to vote and setting up a constitutional republic doesn't guarantee success. The Ukrainian government has had its share of corruption, disagreement, uncertainty, all problems that can be expected as something completely different needs to take hold in a country that has not controlled its own sovereignty or destiny, ever, but has always been closely tied to Russian interests. But then, we also have had problems preserving our constitutional republic and our guarantees of freedom and rights.
It did not help that an American, who also went to work as the former President's first campaign manager, showed the Ukrainians how to manipulate election results, criminally failed to report those dealings as an American citizen and was sentenced to serve time for his crime, only to have the former President pardon him before leaving office. Nor did it help that the same former President tried to bribe the new Ukrainian President into lying about his then-election opponent while witholding money Congress had appropriated to help them buy military equipment they needed to defend themselves against the Russians. Frankly, we showed the Ukrainians our absolute worst side at a time when they were still trying to figure out who to trust.
And yet, here they are, committed to fighting for their freedom because it is precious to them and they appreciate it.
We Need to Appreciate our Liberties, our Constitution and our Representative Democracy Like The Ukrainians are Showing the World How They Appreciate Theirs
We are the wealthiest country in the world, and the most powerful politically and militarily. And while the risks of kicking off a major world war that might include the use of nuclear weapons makes the approach to helping Ukraine precarious and dangerous, and those choices have to be the right ones, there is no limit to the kind of help we can give to the Ukrainians in their time of need. But the best thing we can give to them, the thing which they will appreciate the most, is the affirmation that what they are fighting for is worth it, because we also think it is worth it.
We have a house to clean, and doing that and doing it right is one of the best things we can do for the Ukraninans and their morale.
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