There is an interesting article in the Economist that paints Putin as being more in the tradition of the Tsars rather than the Communist leaders (well, it came out in November of last year but I just got around to reading it). On the cover of the magazine is a photoshopped picture of Putin in a tsarist uniform made up of, mostly, military hardware with a heading saying A tsar is born. Inside is an article with the picture above above a heading saying: Enter Tzar Vladimir. It got me thinking Russia has never been democratic, the Russian tradition is of being ruled by the Tsar. Russia’s reverting back to the good old days is a reversion back to autocratic rule. 

When, as I read almost every day, about Turkey’s slide from Democracy as Recep Erdoğan consolidates his power or Poland and Hungary sliding into fascism, it seems to me that all they have in common is that they were countries that were born and prospered under autocratic rule.  Their institutional memory is not of being Democratic. The United States, on the other hand, has always been a Democracy; maybe not a Democracy as we understand it today with only white, male, landowners having voting rights but, still, a country with a history of Democratic ideals. I find that heartening.