Tyranny Has Triumphed

Because Real Courage is Rare.

Definition of tyranny from Merriam-Webster: nond - 1: an act or the pattern of harsh, cruel, and unfair control over other people   2: a government in which all power is in the hands of a single ruler [party].

Ready to Die? Why Most People Flunk the Zelenskyy Test.

By JOHN F. HARRIS

In his bid for international support for Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has found a good line, and he knows it.

This might be the last time you see me alive 

He told European leaders in a conference call, shortly after his country was invaded. He repeated the words a few days later as he pleaded with House and Senate members for more U.S. assistance.

Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Zelenskyy’s warning of his imminent demise is powerful for two reasons. One is that it is self-evidently credible. The Ukrainian president’s public willingness to court death to defend his country is probably now his best protection against death. Zelenskyy’s new stature — suddenly, he is likely the free world’s most admired person — has increased the costs Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay if Zelenskyy is killed during the Ukraine invasion. But no one, least of all Zelenskyy, can have much confidence that Putin cares about those costs.

The fact that Zelenskyy — joined by vast numbers of his fellow Ukrainians — is willing to sacrifice everything makes him a clarifying agent in the great contest of the age, between free societies and despotic ones. For the past generation, liberal democracy and individual freedom have been defeated by tyranny in multiple arenas. The reasons are diverse, but unified by a common truth: Most people, on most occasions, aren’t willing to follow the Ukrainian example

... 

Rep. Liz Cheney is courageous
while Republican men are profiles in cowardice

Even in the United States, the notion of people risking personal fortunes in defense of ideals can seem rather remote. The person currently most hailed as courageous in American politics right now is Rep. Liz Cheney. The Zelenskyy example reminds us that what Cheney is risking with her criticism of Donald Trump is the loss of her Wyoming congressional seat, in favor of a new career of board seats and speaking engagements and TV network contributor contracts. That is far more nerve than nearly all of her colleagues in the Republican caucus, which includes many people who share her views privately but are afraid to share them publicly.

... it’s becoming impossible to avoid the Zelenskyy test: What are you willing to sacrifice in the name of your ideals?

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My Note: A lesson for us as we stand up to the the Republican zealots that are attempting to extinguish our rights and make us invisible.