It's a time-honored axiom that winners write the history books.
Look no further than to what the world's No. 1 pariah is attempting to do in Russia by schooling its youth on the merits of communist ideology, and the pivotal role that the country's current president has played in the "rebirth" of a "great nation" that had been severely weakened when the Soviet Union splintered in 1991.
The Putin plan to indoctrinate a new generation of Russian youth into a totalitarian world as he shapes it was spelled out in graphic detail by The New York Times last summer in a report that laid bare a "wholesale reprogramming of Russian society."
The current effort to change the way young Russians think about their country and the world at large is rooted in history and dates to the time when Joseph Stalin ruled the former Soviet Union with an iron fist.
It also is reminiscent of what another World War II tyrant attempted to accomplish in Germany by infecting the "Hitler Youth" with the disease of Nazi propaganda as a means of justifying state-sanctioned atrocities.
A similar pattern played out in post-war China, which established a communist dictatorship in 1949 by imposing military rule and brutally quashing any political dissent, forcing nearly 3 million Nationalists led by Chiang Kai-shek to retreat to a safe haven on the island of Taiwan.
The three most glaring examples of nations that fell prey to the siren song of power-hungry autocrats, not surprisingly, have served as inspiration for a long line of totalitarian regimes, including current models throughout the Middle East, Far East, and South America.
Autocratic inroads also have been made in several European countries that have embraced the hate-filled rhetoric uttered by fringe political groups, generally under the guise of improving the economic fortunes of the lower- and middle-class sectors of the populace.
Perhaps Western society's greatest threat to democratic rule, of course, occurred over a two-month period in the overlapping years of 2020-21 when another would-be autocrat incited a political insurrection in a desperate attempt to remain in power after losing the presidential election.
The attempt failed, thankfully, but the seeds already are being sown for yet another try at destroying our democracy by his continuing efforts to con, dupe, and mislead his followers.
Those efforts are being enabled by countless politicians at the local, state, and national levels who have been bullied into complacency and complicity, unwilling to take a stand for the principles of honesty and integrity.
Thankfully, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has been on the front lines of those willing to take a stand for democracy, doing her best to beat back ongoing attempts by extremists to subvert the right to vote.
Former dean of Wayne State University Law School, Benson continues to be a beacon of hope in a political landscape that is stained by a lunatic fringe of election deniers, warning that a recent case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court has the potential to upend our democratic order.
"At the U.S. Supreme Court, the North Carolina Legislature argued for the 'Independent State Legislature Theory,'" Benson indicated. "If they get their way, state legislatures will be free to violate their own state constitutions and issue partisan election rules that will upend democratic processes across the country. It could even leave the door open for attacks on Michigan's independent redistricting commission."
The threat is equally great on Capitol Hill, said Benson.
"In Congress, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene proclaimed that she would have 'won" if she had led the January 6th insurrection," noted Benson of the deadly mob attack on the Capitol. "Republican House leadership didn't condemn her comments, and they continue to promote her as a national figure in their party. Their silence is just as telling as the comment itself.
"In the weeks that have followed the midterms, election officials have continued to deal with harassment and threats of violence," Benson said. "It's horrific that we've had to deal with such dangerous rhetoric for the simple act of doing their jobs. But I know we're tougher and more determined than ever to continue defending our country."
