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The refusal of House Republicans to fund aid for Ukraine, their insistence on pursuing a bogus impeachment scheme hatched by an indicted Russian FBI source in contact with Russian intelligence services and their unfailing loyalty to an anti-democratic demagogue infatuated with Russian President Vladimir Putin will further aggravate the existential threat facing democracy around the globe. MAGA Republicans recent conduct will only hasten the dangerous trend toward authoritarianism spelled out in Freedom Houses recent report Freedom in the World 2024: The Mounting Damage of Flawed Elections and Armed Conflict.

Global freedom declined for the 18th consecutive year in 2023, Freedom House reported. The breadth and depth of the deterioration were extensive. Political rights and civil liberties were diminished in 52 countries, while only 21 countries made improvements. Flawed elections and armed conflict contributed to the decline, endangering freedom and causing severe human suffering.

The threat from right-wing groups and ideologies rejecting democratic values such as diversity, the rule of law, free speech, equality and tolerance the very same values the MAGA movement targets are at the root of the worldwide phenomenon. Almost everywhere, the downturn in rights was driven by attacks on pluralism the peaceful coexistence of people with different political ideas, religions, or ethnic identities that harmed elections and sowed violence, Freedom House observed. These intensifying assaults on a core feature of democracy reinforce the urgent need to support the groups and individuals, including human rights defenders and journalists, who are on the front lines of the struggle for freedom worldwide.

The role of the United States in bolstering democracies, just as it did in World War II and the Cold War, has never been more critical. As it has for decades, the United States can play a vital role in the expansion of global freedom, the report reiterated. But much depends on whether the November 2024 presidential election reinforces or weakens Americas democratic values, processes, and institutions, along with its will to uphold the cause of democracy around the world.

The United States remains vulnerable at home, where harassment and intimidation of federal, state, and local politicians, election administrators, and judges pose a serious challenge to the conduct of Novembers presidential election. Moreover, still haunted by the January 2021 attack on the Capitol and related court cases, Americans are heading into a decisive election starkly divided, with some questioning the very utility of fundamental democratic institutions.

As the worlds only true superpower, the only country that can summon a global alliance and the historic exemplar of democratic values, the United States must take the lead in defending democracies against internal and external threats. If governments, donors, and the private sector do not deepen their solidarity with front-line allies, hold dictators accountable for rights abuses and corruption, and invest in democratic institutions at home and abroad, democracy will continue its downward trajectory, the report said. If the United States sacrifices core principles for the sake of illusory short-term interests, then we will lose a global order in which democratic norms prevail and that deliver liberty, prosperity, and security for those living now and for future generations.

Military defense of democracies continues to be an essential part of protecting our alliances facing aggression from authoritarian regimes such as the Kremlins full-scale invasion of Ukraine [that] continued for a second year, further degrading basic rights in occupied areas and prompting more intense repression in Russia itself. But the question remains if the United States has the will to do so.

We recently witnessed how perilously close the United States is to frittering away our democratic leadership in the world. When the Republican presidential front-runner espouses fondness for fascist ideas and displays a determination to destroy NATO, and his minions rely on Russian-hatched conspiracies to impeach a president and seem willing to let Ukraine go under, we can imagine the threats to democracy here and abroad reaching the point of no return.

Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.), a nine-year veteran of the Navy and three-term congresswoman who recently returned from the Munich Conference, expressed to me her dismay at Republicans irresponsibility in defending democracy at a critical moment. She pointed at four-times-indicted former president Donald Trump and his party for undermining and walking away from our alliances.

She explained, The rules-based order benefits not just the U.S. but other countries, yet Republicans want to blow up the system. Republicans seem not to care that we depend on an alliance of democratic allies to do everything from protecting the seaways to confronting Chinas aggression, she noted. She said there is a military phrase: We never fight alone. And yet we will find ourselves isolated, vulnerable and saddled with higher defense costs if Republicans persist in enabling Putin and destroying our democratic alliances.

We are at an inflection point, Sherrill said, echoing the Freedom House report and speaking with obvious emotion. I cannot accept that the country I have given my life to, the country [for which] I cannot count the number of oaths I have taken, the country I have fought for, I cannot accept that we cannot stand with Ukraine.

And yet if Republicans have their way denying Ukraine a lifeline, doing the bidding of Putin internationally and lifting a Putin pawn to the U.S. presidency democracys backsliding will become an avalanche. Imagine if the only country capable of reinforcing the rules-based order and preventing tyrannical regimes from overwhelming vulnerable countries stood with the authoritarians. Under such circumstances, democracy in the United States and around the world would be unlikely to survive.

Its hard to quibble with the argument that the upcoming election is the most important in our history and in the history of Western democracies. The world will be watching.

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Opinion | Democracy is imperiled globally. Republicans aren't helping. - The Washington Post - The Washington Post