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Ken’s Thought of the Week: Instability plagues both democracies and dictatorships – but with big differences

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By Ken Abramowitz, President & Founder, SaveTheWest

See the sources for this article and more research in the Additional Reading section.

Governmental instability is rising tremendously throughout both democracies and dictatorships, each of which occupy about half of the world’s population.

Which of these two forms of government are more unstable? Which will collapse first?

Before we approach these questions, we must first we try to understand their sources of instability.

In regards to democracies, the U.S. and U.K. in particular have become unstable because the gap between right and left has become too wide. America’s government-run educational system has been taken over by the intolerant and socialistic left, which has turned learning institutions into indoctrination chambers. Most of our students in secondary schools and colleges are able to graduate without understanding the U.S. Constitution or Bill of Rights, basic civics or history. If you doubt this, see “America At The Precipice,” a major research report by STW editor Jon Sutz, that contains some of the shocking metrics. A sampling:

  • 82% of American adults cannot identify two rights stated in the Declaration of Independence.
  • Less than 50% of American adults understand the basic purpose of the Constitution, or can identify even one of their rights under it.
  • Only 26% of Americans can identify all three branches of the government — a sharp decline from 2011, when 38% could do so.

Further, America’s children are being infused in our schools with a belief that socialism, or communism, are ideal political-economic systems. Surveys conducted in 2019 reveal that 70% of Millennials say that they would vote for a socialist for elective office, and 36% “approve of communism” (up from from 28% in 2018). The climax of this indoctrination is an overt, explicit desire to overthrow the U.S. government, to install communist totalitarianism, as articulated by this group of Revolutionary Communists:

Deprived of knowledge and appreciation of our governmental system, and infused with notorious, oppressive ideologies, our children emerge from our schools unprepared to become functional, patriotic American citizens, yet we allow them to vote when they reach 18 years of age. Similarly, new (legal) immigrants are under-educated, but are allowed to vote once they become citizens.

In the democracy of Israel, the ideological gap between the two leading parties is not as wide as in the U.S., but the population is confused and split, more due to the personality of the two leaders, Benjamin Netanyahu and Bennie Gantz, and only secondarily due to the issues. In general, though, the challengers are leftists who would seek to implement some elements of socialism, which can sound good, even though it has bankrupted almost every country that embraced it during its 150 years of existence.

Benny Gantz, left, and Benjamin Netanyahu

In contrast, the key dictatorships are increasingly unstable, due primarily to the rise of the Internet and social media, which has fueled the spread of knowledge and the desire for the freedom that protesters observe in the key democracies. For example:

  • China: The rare example of a successful dictatorship has seen 8 months of protests in its semi-autonomous Hong Kong island. China signed a treaty with the British in 1984, guaranteeing basic democratic human rights until 2047. The mainland Chinese government reneged on that treaty in 2019, 28 years prematurely, thereby provoking huge protests, leading to the deaths of at least 50-100 people.
Hong Kong protesters clash with China-backed police officers; Photo: Newsweek
  • Iran: It has an incredibly mismanaged dictatorship, but it has been successful in creating the single largest Islamist terrorist organization in the world, Hezbollah. Iran operates a worldwide network of physical, narco, and cultural terror organizations in 30 countries in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and Latin America, with a collective array of over 400,000 terrorists. Yet when the messianic rulers suddenly raised the price of gasoline from a highly subsidized $0.35 to a more realistic $1.00, protests grew spontaneously in 100 cities, leading to the deaths of nearly 150 protesters, and according to other reports, many more.

  • Iraq: Protesters have grown weary of Iranian infiltration of their government and society. The Iranian consulate in Najaf was burned down, and Iraqi authorities, acting under Iranian orders, have killed over 350 protesters, since the protests began in October.
Riot police try to disperse protesters during clashes in Baghdad, Iraq, November 22, 2019. (Photo: Times of Israel; AP/Hadi Mizban)

So which are more unstable, democracies or dictatorships?

And what are the ramifications for U.S. national security interests?

Over time, dictatorships should prove less stable, as their populations increasingly demand the rule of law, human rights, and growing economies, to create more jobs and wealth. Democratic instability is more transitory, as new parties and personalities run for office, and mold their messages better to the majority of voters.

One unfortunate result of this worldwide political turmoil, however, is that the dictatorships might seek to attack their adversaries, in order to build up domestic support for their inherently corrupt governments. The democracies must become for more alert to the dictatorships’ propensity for both external subversion, and war, as their internal threats rise.

Watch out for un-forecastable wars and/or skirmishes in 2020, particularly from Iran, the #1 enemy of America!


Additional Reading

VIDEO: Revolutionary Communist Party activists rally outside the RNC

Sino-British Joint Declaration – Wikipedia

Hong Kong Protests Turn Violent – Foreign Policy

Son of elderly man killed during Hong Kong protests urges masked rioters to come forward – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Hong Kong Protests: Police Attack Activists With Rubber Bullets, Tear Gas and Water Cannons – Newsweek

Iran has been the #1 largest state sponsor of global terrorism – SaveTheWest

Hizballah – The Investigative Project on Terrorism

Iran-backed Hezbollah & IRGC worldwide operations, including at the U.S. southern border, Mexico, Central & South America – SaveTheWest

AP Analysis: Iran protests point to turmoil in the future – AP

Iranian protests – which saw 7,000 arrests, 143 killed – point to future turmoil – The Times of Israel

Ken’s Thought of the Week: Negotiations with Iran are guaranteed to fail – Save The West

Why is Iran conspiring with Mexican drug dealers? – Foreign Policy

Iraqis keep up anti-regime demos despite PM’s vow to quit – YahooNews

Protesters burn down Iranian consulate in southern Iraq | World news – The Guardian

4 protesters killed in Baghdad, raising toll in Iraq clashes since Oct. to 340 – The Times of Israel

 

 

 

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