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When the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban had a parliamentary majority, he pushed through dramatic changes to the Fundamental Law of Hungary in 2011. In Poland, Orbans autocratic counterpart, Jarosaw Kaczyski, does not have the same majority to change the constitution. However, this does not stop him from remodeling the political system according to his wishes.

Since the conservative Law and Justice party (PiS) swept into power during the Polish general and presidential elections of 2015, it has gained considerable means to change the country according to the illiberal vision of Jarosaw Kaczyski, the party chairman. Mr. Kaczyski, officially only an MP, is in fact the most influential person in Poland and effectively orders both PM Beata Szydo and President Andrzej Duda, whom he anointed for their respective positions.

Mr. Kaczyski controls the legislative and the executive, but he has feared that the strong, independent judicial branch especially the Constitutional Tribunal would once again oppose his planned reforms as it did during PiSs previous short term governing from 2005 to 2007. For that reason, the offensive against the rule of law started with a total political overhaul of the Constitutional Tribunal, which is now helmed by justice appointed by his party. This move, unprecedented in the history of democratic Poland after 1989, was heavily criticized by academic and professional legal communities and has sparked large civic protests in the streets. It was also the reason for the European Commission to trigger the rule of law procedure against Poland.

After taking over the Constitutional Tribunal, it appears to be now time for increasing political control over the rest of the judiciary. The three new laws include:

1) already adopted amendments to law on the National Council of the Judiciary of Poland, an institution that appoints judges. According to the new bill all sitting members of the Council are dismissed and new ones will be appointed by the parliament,

2) already adopted changes to law on judges, giving the Minster of Justice powers to personally replace and fine the chief judges of common courts,

3) currently discussed law on the Supreme Court.

According to a draft law on the Supreme Court currently discussed in the Polish Parliament, the term of sitting SC judges would be ended and those who remain would be personally selected by the Minister of Justice who is also Persecutor General. In this new system, the separation and balance of power is greatly diminished. The highest court becomes dependent on one politician with extremely wide catalogue of competences. As of today, this person is Mr. Zbigniew Ziobro, a trusted ally to Mr. Kaczyski. What sparks public fears and a wave of street protests is not only this extraordinary concentration of powers, but also the fact that Supreme Court validates election results. The next general election takes place in 2019.

Mr. Kaczyskis own sympathies and deep-rooted convictions are part of official justification for recent and planned highly controversial changes in the system of appointment of judges and in personal makeup of the Supreme Court. The Law and Justice chairman claims that after Polands transition to democracy, the judiciary was never properly vetted and that judicial elites of the Third Polish Republic are the same people or progenies (!) of judges who worked for and benefitted from the oppressive regime before 1989. Irrespective of facts, Kaczyski seems to have a twisted morality where children should bear the responsibility for the actions of their parents. Interestingly, Kaczyskis anti-communist sentiment is highly selective and does not apply to such figures as Law and Justices MP Stanisaw Piotrowicz, an infamous communist-era persecutor.

Speaking of facts, not opinions, all judges of the Supreme Court were vetted after 1989 following the lustration law introduced in 1996, which was amended in 2006 for all sitting judges and judicial candidates of common courts wherein they are screened to ascertain whether they worked for or collaborated with the communist services. With an inevitable passage of time, lustration laws no longer apply to younger public servants, who entered professional life after 1989 and during democratic Poland. A prime example of this generational change in Polish public life is President Andrzej Duda, PhD in law, himself 45 years old.

However, according to Kaczyskis logic, most of the judiciary is irreversibly tainted and by default compromised and should be replaced by new elites, chosen not on merit, but on political allegiance to Kaczyskis vision. Law and Justice won 2015 elections, among others, on fueling this anti-elitist populist and ant-communist sentiment. The latter is strong in Poland almost 28 years after the regime change, especially among the generation of people born after 1989, thanks to a decade of historical propaganda efforts of Law and Justice.

In addition, Mr. Kaczyskis party skillfully took advantage of the widespread dissatisfaction with the judiciary among Poles. While scholars of law and democracy have been proud of many achievements of the Polish judicial branch during the last quarter century, the average Poles experiences with judiciary are often negative. Lengthy proceedings, corruption scandals and perceived arrogance of the judiciary made it an easy target. Nevertheless, the value of rule of law and the appreciation for liberal democracy has not been forgotten in Poland overnight. The most recent wave of bottom-up protests in many Polish cities, organized by civil society groups, is a reminder to that.

What does the reform of the Supreme Court hold for the future of Polish democracy?

The Supreme Court examines electoral complaints, validates general and presidential elections as well as national and constitutional referenda. Moreover, it considers complaints of political parties who were refused public subsidies. The First President of the Supreme Court is by default the head of the Tribunal of State, an institution, which holds public officials accountable for breaching the Constitution.

While the Constitutional Tribunal is a guardian to our values and rights enshrined in the constitution, the Supreme Court assures that liberal democratic checks-and-balances work properly and that there is room for political pluralism and party competition. A political overhaul of two key oversight institutions enormously imbalances the Polish system.

Anna Wjcik is assistant editor at Visegrad Insight and researcher at the Institute of Law Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Twitter: @annawojcik

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Populist anti-communism in Poland - Visegrad Insight

Source: Screen Shot of Campus Reform Video

In a man-on-the-street style interview with Campus Reform, a number of Washington, D.C. students spoke positively about socialism.

Some students thought people throw that word around to try and scare you, but if helping people is socialism, than Im for it.

Others said its a good idea and could really benefit our country in the future.

Trying to spread the wealth is definitely a good thing in America and its definitely a thing thats needed, another responded.

One student even declared we should have a standard of living for all people.

it definitely seems like a more feasible option and it could help more people, like, just as a broad term, it could help more people, said another.

The problem, however, is that when pressed to define it, the students had no idea what it is.

Um, was a common first response, with some admitting they needed to think about that for a second.

Another passionate student explained that its definitely more of an open form of government and it feels like a lot more accessible to a lot more people. But when she was asked what exactly that means, she admitted, to be quite honest, I dont know.

This is quite disconcerting, as millennials have now surpassed baby boomers as the largest voting bloc in the country, according to population estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2016.

In an interview with Fox Newss Jesses Watters, Campus Reforms media director Cabot Phillips explained we have former President Obama and college professors to blame for the reason millennials love socialism without know what it is.

President Obama for eight years made mainstream this concept of spreading the wealth and he brought class warfare back, he explained, and also weve got liberal professors that are teaching a revisionist form of history.

No So Fast...Hillary Is Still More Unpopular than Trump

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Students Love Socialism, But Have No Idea What It Is - Townhall

Our great United States is playing with socialism. President Obama, an undeclared socialist, introduced Obamacare. He promised that everyone could now have medical care.

Socialism is a program which bills the givers to take care of the takers. But when there are more takers than givers, collapse is inevitable unless we raise taxes. Obamacare wasn't working out, and was headed for collapse. Then President Trump was forced to promise repeal and replace. However, no matter what you call it, when a government pays our medical bills, it is socialism.

We already have Medicare and Medicaid. Now the Conservatives are in the uncomfortable position of claiming to be conservative, while acting like liberals. We're forced to try to replace Obamacare with something better. President Trump couldn't have run on a ticket which promised to repeal Obamacare, period. He would not have been elected.

Once socialism rears its "gimmee" head, it's difficult to back out. The Conservatives are forced to replace Obamacare with some other form of socialized medicine, even though they would rather not. We have reached the point, with Obamacare, of having more takers than givers. When the takers outnumber the givers, the takers will outvote the givers. We're into socialism and can't get out!

While Europe has already discovered that socialism is ruining them and are begging to make changes and can't, America is headed for the same cliff. We won't know when we reach it, because our eyes are closed.

Our nation became stronger than any other country in the world, because we embraced self-sufficiency. When we expect the government to pay our bills, we are no longer self-sufficient, and we will cease to be the most powerful nation in the world.

With socialized medicine, our taxes must go up, because we are the government! Dear Lord, help us!

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America headed for cliff of socialism - Idaho Press-Tribune

With the help of millennials, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a self-described democratic-socialist, rose to nationwide prominence with the promise of bloated central government and socialized policy.

According to a Harvard University survey conducted last year, a majority of young people ages 18-29 support a socialism-style economic system versus the traditional capitalist-esque economic system in America. Otherpolls have showed similar results.

So when Campus Reform polled young people in the Washington D.C., area to collect their views on socialism, the responses were far from surprising.

When asked whether they believe socialism is a good thing or a bad thing, one young woman said: I think people kind of throw that word around to try to scare you. But if helping people is socialism, then Im for it.

[Socialism] could really benefit our country in the future, added another.

Socialism as a concept, as a philosophy is good. I think its got a bad rap, said a young man.

Trying to spread the wealth is definitely a good thing in America, and its definitely a thing thats needed, another said.

However, every person Campus Reform interviewed on its video gave socialism which traditionally is very unsavory in America, but is quickly becoming more popular rave reviews. But when asked to define it, every person was stunned and couldnt give socialism a proper definition.

I mean, honestly, that definition gets thrown around a lot. Im not exactly sure, one woman said.

Um one stumped woman said.

Hmm Im gonna have to think about that, a man said.

Only two people were able to provide any sort of definition that might somehow resemble socialisms actual definition.

Geez, uh . I guess just, specifically, just, you know, getting rid of that wealth gap in the United States, said a man.

Hmm, I mean, its definitely more of an open form of government and it feels like a lot more accessible to a lot more people. And thats kinda how I see it, a woman said. Like being more accessible and kinda equal ground yeah.

When the woman was asked what her response meant, she admitted defeat. To be quite honest, I dont know, she said.

For the record, Merriam-Webster defines socialism as: any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.

In other words, the dictionary says socialism is a system of society or group living in which there is no private property where the means of production are owned and controlled by the state.

It also describes it as a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done.

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Watch: Millennials say they love socialism but embarrassingly can't even define what it is - TheBlaze.com

By Cabot Phillips, CampusReform.org

@cabot_phillips

Ask most college students, and they'll tell you that socialism is a wonderful thing. Just don't ask them to define it, because you'll get the same answer.

Last year, a poll was released showing 53 percent of Americans under age 35 are dissatisfied with our nations current economic system and think socialism would be good for the country.

The same poll found that 45 percent of young Americans would be willing to support an openly socialist Presidential candidate.

The findings of this poll coincide with the rise of Senator Bernie Sanders, an avowed Democratic Socialist from Vermont who received millions of votes in the 2016 Democratic Primary, many of them from millennials.

While its clear that young people increasingly view socialism in a positive light, its also clear that many of them are uneducated about what it entails, or the impact its had throughout history.

The same poll found many millennials are unfamiliar with historical figures often associated with socialism, such as Che Guevara, Joseph Stalin, and Karl Marx.

Wanting to see what millennials in D.C. thought of socialism, Campus Reform headed to Washington, D.C. to ask students two simple questions: Do you like socialism? and What is socialism?

It quickly became clear that while most of the people we spoke with held an idyllic view of socialism, most had little idea of what it actually is.

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VIDEO: Students Love Socialism! (Whatever That Is) - Fox News