Here dissent is good, there, nyet
Widely speculated on in the press and elsewhere is that Russian president Vladimir Putin governs largely in the dark. Ruling the Kremlin with an iron fist, Putin, so the thinking goes, hears only what he wants to hear about Ukraine and much else.
Bad news is filtered out. Only good news finds its way to Putin’s desk. Outright dissent is strictly forbidden.
It’s one of the failures of authoritarian governments that dissenting opinions and inconvenient facts frequently never reach the ears of leaders. Subordinates, fearful of banishment or imprisonment or perhaps even of being killed, steer clear of those things which might trigger a negative response from the man in absolute charge.
The same phenomenon, albeit far less bone-chilling and consequential, occurs here at home.
There apparently was a strong element of “don’t anger the boss” in the Trump White House, for instance. According to Russian expert Fiona Hill, who was on the staff of 45’s National Security Council, “Trump would come more to resemble Putin in political practice and predilection than he resembled any of his recent American presidential predecessors.”
As a matter of fact, instilling fear in political colleagues and rivals can serve the interests of strong leaders, of whatever stripe. In a democracy, acting the lion doesn’t always work, however.
Democracy, unlike authoritarianism, encourages dissent.
Rep. John Murtha dissented from the second Gulf War in the early 2000s. Whether he was rewarded or punished politically now seems beside the point. The late congressman’s dissent points up the vast difference between American democracy and Russian autocracy.
Some background. As we wrote here several weeks ago, the Democrat Murtha was a staunch ally of the first President Bush, a Republican, in the first Gulf War.
Following the Iraqi takeover of Kuwait, George H.W. Bush formed a multinational coalition in opposition to Iraq’s Saddam Hussein. U.S.-led coalition forces pushed the Iraqis and Saddam out of Kuwait in 1991.
As a senior lawmaker and chair of the House panel in charge of Pentagon funding, Murtha played a crucial role in marshaling Democratic support for the war.
If daddy Bush and Murtha were allies, then the son, the second President Bush, George W., and Murtha were anything but.
The second Gulf War, triggered by Saddam’s phantom “weapons of mass destruction,” saw U.S. forces take Bagdad. The war that toppled Saddam from power was followed by Allied occupation of Iraq.
In a September 2006 letter to President Bush, Murtha stated why he thought the administration was on the wrong post-war track in Iraq.
In the previous five weeks, the U.S. had suffered 60 dead and hundreds more wounded. More than a thousand Iraqi civilians had been killed, he said.
Moreover, the occupation of Iraq was draining the U.S. treasury, and imposing force readiness costs on the U.S military.
All of this was occurring without any visible progress in securing a stable, democratic Iraq, Murtha said.
In his letter, the Johnstown congressman called on President Bush to fire Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for, among other things, “the failed post-war occupation of Iraq.”
The September letter followed one in July and anticipated another in October.
The Oct. 20, 2006, letter was co-signed by Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware and, along with Murtha, three other Democrats (House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Illinois Senator Dick Durbin).
The administration, though listening, pushed back. White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten told Murtha in a letter that the administration “strongly” disagreed with his proposal to redeploy troops out of Iraq. Such action would result in a “crippling defeat for America and a staggering victory for Islamic terrorists,” Bolten said.
When Murtha voiced his opposition to the administration’s Iraq policy before an audience at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, he was booed by some of his very own constituents.
Yes, dissent even in a democracy can be messy. But allowing dissent is crucial. It’s was one of the geniuses of the American system of government. It’s too bad Putin hasn’t the benefit of dissenting opinion in Russia. Too bad, but understandable. Autocrats don’t like to be told they are wrong.
Richard Robbins lives in Uniontown. He can be reached at dick.l.robbins@gmail.com.