Outstanding article by Congressman Adam Schiff on rise of the autocrats
Article is drawn from on a March 21 speech he gave to the Brookings Institution.
https://lawfareblog.com/rise-autocrats
Here are some excerpts, but do yourself a favor and take the time to read this thoughtful article in its entirety.
. . .
The international community of democracies, of which the United States is a part, has a duty to act in concert to protect the electoral process in France and Germany, and in other countries where Russia or other antidemocratic regimes are working to subvert elections and distort internal dialogue. As the birthplace of modern democracy and its great champion, the United States must lead this effort. Yet the sense among allies and others is that this is a role that our new President neither desires, nor considers a priority for the United States. Several weeks ago, I accompanied Senator John McCain and a bipartisan delegation from both Houses of Congress to the annual Munich Security Conference, which brings together several hundred senior policymakers and experts. The panels at this year’s gathering focused on the challenge to the West, to NATO, and to democracy itself. But there was really only one question on everybody’s mind in Munich that weekend—where is America? . . . While in Munich, I attended a small dinner organized by Irish rocker and global humanitarian Bono, who very affectingly reminded my colleagues and me of something precious about America. He said: “I’m very proud to be Irish, I’m very proud of Ireland. But Ireland is just a country, America is also an idea.” . . . Proving once again the unique genius of the Founders, the courts have stepped into the breach to block implementation of both of the President’s immigration orders. But the actions of the courts do not alleviate Congress from its responsibility, as a co-equal branch of government, to look for better, fairer, more humane ways to secure our borders. And if Congress as a whole will not speak out, then my party must. . . . First, the world’s superpower deserves a first-rate diplomatic and development corps, properly resourced and with the capacity to direct and disburse effective foreign assistance that also advances our national interests around the world. The proposed cuts to the State Department and USAID would fundamentally impair our ability to conduct a range of vital work around the world and must be opposed and reversed. . . Second, the promotion of human rights has always been at the heart of American foreign policy, yet the new Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, did not even bother to show up for this year’s release of the report on human rights, a sharp break with the practice of previous secretaries. . . . In this context I think about people all over the world who look to the United States, including those young protestors in Tahrir Square before their revolution was hijacked. Many of them now are in prison, while others are worried about going to prison. They must look to the United States and wonder—are we still here? Do they still have an advocate? Do they still have a voice?
. . . . the Russian effort succeeded in its goal of undermining support for Hillary Clinton and in the democratic process more generally because we allowed it to. Everybody knew what was going on and who was behind it while it was occurring. . . .Trump, his campaign, and news outlets from coast-to-coast gleefully pounced on the emails from senior DNC staff and from senior Clinton campaign aide, John Podesta, without much hesitation given how and why it ended up in their hands. Worse still was the receptivity of huge swaths of the American public to Moscow’s ill-gotten gains. This must never be allowed to happen again.. . . In the U.S., the state of civics education is woeful—little more than an afterthought for many school districts in an era when parents (and many future employers) want a greater emphasis on science and math. That needs to change. America’s schoolchildren need to have a much more consistent and detailed exposure to civics all the way from K-12. Not only will this build a population that is less susceptible to manipulation, it will have the added benefit of boosting our embarrassingly low voter participation rate.
Finally, no active measures campaign will succeed against a government whose citizens believe that it is serving their interests and discharging its duties honestly. Russia succeeds where there is mistrust and a lack of confidence in government and in other national institutions. That is the case in this country at the moment, and I am reminded almost daily that I am a member of an institution with an approval rating in the low single, maybe the low double digits. The American people see us as ineffective, corrupt, or both and they desperately want us to work together to solve the nation’s problems. When we repeatedly fail to pass appropriations bills; when nominees for senior government posts languish for years in the Senate; or when simple debt extension votes become an occasion for political hostage-taking, we are doing Putin’s work for him and preparing the ground for his next attack. We may be in an era when neither party can afford to give an inch, but at some point both Republicans and Democrats are going to have to re-learn the art of compromise and to redefine “victory” if the American experiment is to flourish and if we are to beat back the challenge of nativism and foreign attacks on liberal democracies. For nearly three decades now, the old ways of consensus and cooperation have been eclipsed by a 24/7 brawl in which truth is the first casualty and all of us lose. That has to stop, for all of our sakes.. . . .Liberty and democracy are not our birthright to be taken for granted. The United States of America is not exempt from the siren song of authoritarianism, nor are we invulnerable to the machinations of others. Our democracy has been paid for with blood, and it must be nurtured and treated with reverence. In some respects, our commitment to popular sovereignty is a point of vulnerability, but it is also our greatest strength. If Putin and other undemocratic leaders around the world were not so fearful of the appeal of liberal democracy, they would not seek to weaken it. Now that we know the enemy within our midst, it is up to us to rise to the challenge.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Me, too.
if it weren't systematically crushed? (Not entirely in agreement with that, I chat with our grands about the world, school, and even occasionally get to visit their schools.)
Thanks for the additional information from someone who's been there. I'm newly very interested. 
This reminds me, btw, of a neighbor boy who sparked an epiphany long ago. 16-17, had the chance to spend a few weeks as an exchange student with a family in Greece. Was turning this thrilling opportunity down. I'd known him since he was a toddler, and guessing he didn't want to miss summer time with friends, I tried to chat him into going. He looked me straight in the eye and with total, absolute sincerity said, "Why would I want to?" I was stunned. Greece had nothing he was interested in.
He's the same now, 20 years later. Married with children, lives in the same town he was raised in with his sister and her family and his parents nearby. Small (tiny!) world, good life. This is in Los Angeles's urban sprawl, btw, 10 minutes to the Rose Bowl, 15 minutes a heavy foot without traffic to downtown (personal experience ), 45 with. Not the Ozarks. Fwiw, the whole family's solidly conservative.
what the largest group can take in, of course, not those fascinated and super involved. Such a shame, and we can and should do a lot better than those districts already out in front of that. I really admire you for not accepting less than the best you could provide.
But, Mopinko, comparing public schools to intelligent and competent one-on-one teaching is, of course, terribly unfair to the task facing people with a duty to educate all children in a community, and these days on critically limited budgets. Inevitably they're going to fail to fulfilling the potential of students outside the main. Otoh, many home schoolers can't meet their children's needs either.
My orientation is that universal education is a critical factor for successful, prosperous nations. It's a magnificent new achievement borne of the Industrial Revolution, never known before in 10,000 years of human history, even when done poorly. So I won't badmouth public education itself, only wish it was adequately, properly funded and teachers paid enough to draw people as good as we need them to be. Those people would do so much all by themselves to raise the bar.
And that said, the last time I visited our local high school on an errand I felt good about the place, not least because this is the Deep South and because I also know too many of its grads go off to college on high alert for Satan's demons working to steal their souls in that dangerous environment. Really! Talk about teaching problems--teach what you believe to be true in a history class and watch a mind slam closed permanently. But what they're taught at home has more than a little to do with that.
