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By STEVE ERKENBRACK

If you meander along the highways and byways of New England, you will notice a common feature in many villages that date to the colonial era: the center of each community is marked by a town square, typically punctuated by an old church or meeting house. This is for neither traffic control nor aesthetics; rather, it was the site for public decision-making, established by the pilgrims when they landed four centuries ago.

Communal decisions were not to be made by lords or landed gentry, as in Old England; they were to be made by the everyday folks who comprise the community. They gathered and groused, discussed and decided.

Grand Junction continues this time-honored American experience these days as we select from our neighbors who have stepped forward and offered to serve us on our City Council. If you tend to take this phenomenon for granted, just consider what is happening on the other side of the globe where citizens in Myanmar, Moscow, and Hong Kong are gassed, arrested, or shot in their efforts to have people control the government, not vice versa.

While pondering this contemporary lesson in liberty, we might note the three things that make this both possible and meaningful.

The Candidates

In an era of social media rants and tweets, its admirable that people have the courage to run for public office. Eight candidates have offered to serve the rest of us, and they deserve our appreciation. Ive run for local office four times, three times successfully as district attorney, and one time not-so-successfully for the state Legislature. It requires an intense personal commitment of time, effort, and focus. Each of these citizens could like the rest of us spend an evening browsing a book, streaming a show, or sipping a beer with a friend. Instead, they have spent hours learning the issues from skating rinks to swimming pools, toking to taxation. They may differ in style, background, or vision, but they all share a commitment to make this community a better place.

In any election, half the candidates go home disappointed, and rejection hurts, especially after pouring your heart into an effort. So, if you bump into one of these brave neighbors, regardless of how you are going to vote, take a moment to thank them. Abe, Dennis, Greg, Jody, Kraig, Mark, Rick and Randall are the next generation of the spirit of liberty that was born in those New England town squares centuries ago, the next tiles in the American mosaic.

The Coverage

Recognizing the risk of accusations of bias (since this paper periodically publishes my perspectives on politics, law, and history), local media is also an essential component of grassroots democracy. Months ago, as candidates declared their interest, most of us did not know most of them. This newspapers reporters outlined key issues, and then gave each candidate the chance to present his message in his own way, not spinning stories to fit a publishers preconceived agenda. News was clearly differentiated from the opinions reflected on the editorial page.

Much has been said of both fake news and the demise of local media, and these are truly topics for concern, especially when national media colors the news with its views, and when social media uses artificial intelligence to feed us topics selected to make us happy, not to make us think. Local newspapers are at the forefront of trying to provide us the facts, and letting us reach our own conclusions.

The Community

Having been born in Washington, D.C., and moving about every three years as the youngest son in a Navy family, I never really had a hometown as a kid. So, when my wife and I settled in Grand Junction as a young couple in 1979, we were looking for more than just jobs; we were looking for a community. And did we ever find it.

Our current municipal election is but the latest iteration of this community collectively addressing its issues, with differences that dont degenerate into denigration. Out of that spirit have come countless public servants and extraordinary accomplishments like the our downtown, the Riverfront Trail, Lincoln Park, Little League, Las Colonias, museums, and theaters. Perhaps the culmination of this spirit is the you-gotta-live-here-to-believe-it phenomenon of JUCO or the transformation of higher education at Colorado Mesa University. None of these accomplishments were without discussion and dissension; we are a scrappy lot. But we pull together through trial, tragedy or triumph. We get hit with a pandemic, we hit back with a 5-Star program to lead the state in keeping our local businesses open.

There is much that can divide us, especially when topics turn to national events. But here, in the shadow of the Grand Mesa, this community has been built brick by brick. The newest bricks will be laid over the next two weeks with our new City Council, selected by you and your neighbors, in this quintessentially American demonstration of democracy, which the people in Myanmar would die for ... and are. Savor this privilege. Vote. It is the key leg of the tripod that is liberty.

Steve ErkenBrack is an attorney in Western Colorado, where he settled in 1979. Over the years, he has served as a trial attorney, as the elected District Attorney, as a health insurance CEO, and as Colorados Chief Deputy Attorney General. He is currently Of Counsel at Hoskin, Farina & Kampf in Grand Junction.

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The Tripod of Democracy | Columns | gjsentinel.com - The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel

President Bill Clinton will join former U.S. Rep.Steve IsraelonMarch 18 at 5 p.m. for a conversation about the future of democracyin America, followed by a reaction by a small panel of Cornell experts.

The program launches the new Milstein State of Democracy Addresses and will include questions from undergraduate students and an introduction by Bob Harrison 76, chairman of the Board of Trustees at Cornell University and CEO of the Clinton Global Initiative.

Clinton and Israel will delve into the challenges faced by democracies today and what can be done to strengthen Americas democratic norms for future generations. Israel is the inaugural director of the Institute of Politics and Global Affairs, a professor of practice in government in the College of Arts and Sciences, and a former Democratic congressman from New York.

Clinton, the 42nd president of the United States, was the first Democratic president elected twice in six decades. He led the U.S. to the longest economic expansion in American history, including the creation of more than 22 million jobs. After leaving the White House, he became founder and chairman of the Clinton Foundation, an organization known for global health, community resilience, economic development and environmental protection. The Clinton Global Initiative University engages the next generation of leaders on college campuses to devise solutions and take action to address pressing challenges in their community.

Clinton served as the top United Nations envoy for the Indian Ocean tsunami recovery effort and the U.N. special envoy to Haiti. He has partnered numerous times with fellow Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush to support relief efforts for communities devastated by natural disasters.

Immediately following the conversation with Clinton, a panel reaction will include insights from:

We're excited to host President Clinton at Cornell, especiallyas we launch our new Campaign for the Future of Democracy, Israel said.Its of vital interest that we understand the state of democracy in Americaand the world at such aperilous moment.We hope that everyone who attends the program understands their role in ensuring the future of democracy.

Hosted by theInstitute of Politics and Global Affairs, part ofGlobal Cornell, the virtual event is open to the Cornell community.Registration is required.

This event is sponsored by the Howard and Abby Milstein Foundation and marks the first event in the Milstein State of Democracy Address series. The event is also supported by The Larry and Judy Tanenbaum Distinguished Speakers Fellowship of Sigma Phi.

Jessica Ames is program and communications coordinator for the Institute of Politics and Global Affairs.

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President Clinton to speak on the future of US democracy | Cornell Chronicle - Cornell Chronicle

Scores of people have been injured and arrested in the Thai capital after police used water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets to break up a rally by pro-democracy protesters calling for the release of detained activists, constitutional changes and reform of the nations monarchy.

The rally outside Bangkoks grand palace was a continuation of student-led protests that began last year and have rattled Thailands traditional establishment, which is fiercely opposed to change, especially with regard to the monarchy.

The organisers of the rally had said they planned to have demonstrators throw paper planes with messages over the palace walls.

The demonstrators, who numbered close to 1,000, managed to break through a barrier made of shipping containers outside the ceremonial palace stacked two high.

Police behind the containers responded first with warnings and then by shooting water cannons and rubber bullets. Police drove the crowd back and while skirmishes continued, the crowds appeared to have dissipated by 10pm.

The citys emergency medical service Erawan reported 33 people, including 13 police, were injured by rubber bullets, rocks and tear gas. At least two reporters were hit by rubber bullets. Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, a watchdog, reported 32 detained.

During the skirmishes, protesters tossed smoke bombs and giant firecrackers at police, and also splashed a royal portrait with paint, but failed in an attempt to set it on fire, though they did burn tires and trash at several locations.

Police deputy spokesman, Col Kissana Phathanacharoen, said police had warned in advance that the rally was illegal. He said in addition to throwing various objects, protesters used slingshots to fire nuts and bolts at police and hit them with metal rods. He said police had used water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets according to proper procedures.

The rally was called by Redem, a faction of a broader protest movement last year that started with three core demands: the resignation of the prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and his government, for the constitution to be amended to make it more democratic and the monarchy to be reformed to make it more accountable.

Redem, which stands for Restart Democracy, claims to have no leaders and holds online voting to decide on rally dates and activities.

The movement sharpened its campaign to focus on the monarchy, and Thailands lese majeste law, which makes criticising, insulting or defaming the king and some other senior royals punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

The monarchy has long been treated as a sacred institution in Thailand and public criticism is not only illegal, but has long been considered socially unacceptable. Many people still revere the monarchy and the military, a major power in Thai society, considers defense of the monarchy as a key priority.

As protesters last year stepped up criticism of the monarchy, the government responded by charging outspoken protesters under the lese majeste law, and over the last month, eight of them were jailed pending trial.

The movement was able to attract crowds of as many as 20,000-30,000 people in Bangkok in 2020 and had followings in major cities and universities. However, a new coronavirus outbreak late last year caused it to temporarily suspend activities, and it lost momentum.

More:
Thailand protests: scores injured as police clash with pro-democracy activists - The Guardian

WASHINGTON A former federal prosecutor has launched a campaign to press American businesses to openly reject the core assertion that former President Donald Trump and many in his party continue to make, that the 2020 election was somehow illegitimate.

The 2020 presidential election was free and fair, and produced accurate, reliable results, reads the explanation behind the Democracy Pledge that Glenn Kirschner hopes to put before every company in the country in the coming months. Those who sought to undermine or otherwise refused to acknowledge these results, share responsibility for the civil unrest after the election, culminating in violence at the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The pledge includes a declaration of valuing, affirming and supporting democracy, and of affirming that the election of Joseph R. Biden and Kamala Harris was free, fair and legitimate.

The final piece asks companies to not support, donate to or endorse politicians, political campaigns or political action committees that promoted false conspiracy theories surrounding the 2020 presidential elections (or otherwise acted in ways contrary to a representative democracy).

What were trying to do is force companies hands so they cant be agnostic, Kirschner said.

Trump began lying about the election results in the wee hours of election night and continued straight through Jan. 6, when he told a crowd of his supporters gathered near the White House to march on the Capitol to intimidate Vice President Mike Pence and members of Congress into overturning the election Trump had lost by 7 million votes and giving him a second term anyway. Three police officers were left dead, and 140 others were injured. Hundreds of Trump supporters who attacked police or breached the building have been arrested, with hundreds of more arrests pending.

Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesPolice intervene as Trump supporters attempt to enter the Capitol building on Jan. 6.

Yet Trump and many top Republicans have never apologized for spreading the lies about the stolen election and massive voter fraud that fueled his followers anger in the first place.

As of late Friday, 23 firms were featured on the Democracy Pledge website, from a photography workshop in Missoula, Montana, to a law office in Melbourne, Florida. Kirschner said he and his fellow volunteers have not actively approached any companies yet; those on the site now came to them, he said.

He added that he doubts many companies will straight up refuse to take the pledge, but anticipated many will avoid responding at all. He said those names will, after some period, be listed, as well. And then were going to provide that information to consumers, he said. And they can make their purchasing decisions accordingly.

A number of companies announced after Jan. 6 that they would not donate to politicians who spread Trumps election lie or would pause donating to political campaigns entirely. This raised alarm in Republican committees since Trump and many of his supporters were continuing to push his falsehoods and making them a litmus test for other Republicans.

The Republican National Committee did not respond to a HuffPost query about whether it supported the groups pledge.

Kirschner, who spent six years as an Army lawyer in the Judge Advocate Generals Corps followed by 24 years as prosecutor in the District of Columbias U.S. attorneys office, said he doesnt see declaring support for basic democratic values like accepting the results of an election as partisan.

As to what would constitute spreading conspiracy theories: having signed onto the lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that tried to overturn the election by claiming fraud in other states would be a good qualifier, Kirschner said. A total of 18 state attorneys general and 126 Republican lawmakers supported that effort. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz even volunteered to argue the case before the U.S. Supreme Court, which, in the end, summarily rejected it instead.

Even more GOP members of Congress voted, just hours after their lives had been put in danger by Trumps violent mob, to reject the Electoral College vote tally showing that Biden had won. But Kirschner said that vote, by itself, would not consign someone to the anti-democracy list. Members of Congress had made similar arguments in previous elections, and it would be unfair to punish the 147 Republicans who did the same this time, he added.

He said he could also understand a company wanting to add its own language into the pledge to clarify statements to their satisfaction. Were not trying to be jerks about it, he said. Lets not make the perfect the enemy of the good.

Supporting Trump himself now, though, is another matter, Kirschner said. You cant support Donald Trump and argue that you are in favor of free and fair elections. If youre supporting him, youre just not supporting democracy.

Calling all HuffPost superfans!

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Democracy Pledge Aims To Put Businesses On The Spot Over Trumps Election Lie - HuffPost

Raisa and Mikhail Gorbachev. (Michael Setboun / Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

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On the eve of Mikhail Gorbachevs birthday this March, Time magazines cover featured Anna Rivina, leader of Nasiliu.net, a Russian nonprofit to support victims of domestic violence that had just been branded a foreign agent by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation. A symbolic coincidence. The independent womens movement in Russia, born in the years of Gorbachevs perestroika, became a prominent phenomenon outside the country, a part of the international struggle for gender equality. This is yet another obvious result of that unique process of liberation and renewal that began in the mid-1980s in the USSR and became an important factor of subsequent history.

Speaking of Gorbachevs lessons, during his birthday celebrations prominent Russian and international experts, political figures, and analysts spoke mostly about disarmament and freedom of speech, economic and political reforms, the release of prisoners of conscience, changes in the vector of politics, and recognition of the value of individual rights. These were truly revolutionary changes, many of which are irreversible despite the challenges of the times. Perestroika liberated the minds of millions of people, expanding the borders of their understanding of the world. Including the place of women in society and politics.

It was under Gorbachev that womens councils were instituted at work enterprises, so that women could have their say about the workplace and societal changes. It was during perestroika that independent womens groups appeared, along with the slogan Democracy without women is not democracy, the banner of a new Russian feminism. The Russian womens groups began to work with international womens initiatives. Women on East and West, on both sides of the Iron Curtain, tried to find and hear one another and make the world a better place. The 1990s Wild West market years with their painful social consequences would have been much more tragic if not for the active womens organizations that tried to organize daily life in hundreds of cities. The womens groups helped to overcome unemployment and poverty, forming groups of mutual aid, support, and training in new professions, essentially saving themselves and their families.

The independent womens movement grew in the last years of the USSR on a wave of changes, like many other civil initiatives. It did not always meet with understanding. Many architects of perestroika did not think that women had any problems, since Soviet ideology held that men and women were equal and there was a 30 percent quota for women in elected bodies. The majority of members in these bodies had to be from the working class and collective farmers, who, just like women, were often window dressing and voted for decisions made in Party offices. The hypocrisy of the Soviet regime in the Brezhnev stagnation period made people in the intelligentsia reject all Soviet postulates, including gender equality, for many years afterward.

But women wanted to be part of perestroika. Womens councils were formed in scientific centers and large enterprises throughout the country. There were more women than men with a higher education in the USSR. Yet, top positions in government and industry were held by men.

Gorbachevs support of womens councils was attributed to the influence of his wife, Raisa Gorbachev. Far from everyone in the USSR approved of her public activity, her meetings with other first ladies. However, the role of Raisa Gorbachev, the scholar rather than spouse, is hard to overestimate; she dismantled the Soviet tradition of secrecy about the leader and his family and set an example for new forms of international cooperation among women at all levels. Womens peace initiatives, the Russian-American Alliance for Women in Business, and the dozens of joint organizations and consortiums were the result of the breakthrough made during perestroika.

Perestroika was broader and more powerful than expected, touching on the deepest layers of society. As a result, gender issues have become part of the public discourse, no longer part of research labeled secret.Current Issue

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In 1989, Kommunist magazine published How Do We Solve the Womens Question? by Academician Natalya Rimashevskaya and two young sociologists, Natalya Zakharova and Anastasia Posadskaya. It was the first to talk about the gender gap and gender discrimination in the USSR. It caused a great stir in the academic world, and soon under the auspices of the Rimashevskayas new Institute of Socioeconomic Problems, the Moscow Center for Gender Research was founded and headed by Posadskaya. The center attracted researchers from many countries and served as a discussion platform and a laboratory for new experiences and the promotion of gender research in academia.

At the same time, womenengineers, designers, analystsorganized discussion groups about the role of women in government. In 1991, not long before the disappearance of the USSR, the First Independent Womens Forum gathered several hundred women in Dubna, near Moscow. Nothing like that had ever been done in the USSR, and it was a revelation to Russians and Westerners alike. Just before that, Colette Shulman and Katrina vanden Heuvel (The Nations editorial director and publisher) began publishing a newsletter in America about the womens movement in the USSR and the US called Vy i My, You and We. In a few years, You and We evolved into a magazine published in Russia. Its hard to overestimate the significance of the publication, whose articles were reprinted by national and federal media in Russia and the countries of the former USSR. It was a bridge between cultures and social practices.

The struggle against domestic violence and discrimination played an important part in the magazine from the start, as did the dialogue among women, which supported and expanded the political dialogue and is still a colossal resource for building relations between Russia and the US. This is part of the discussion at the Raisa Gorbachev Club, which continues its work in Moscow after her passing, with international cooperation an important priority.

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Another impressive example of Russian-American public diplomacy and cooperation during the Gorbachev era is a dialogue between women writers and scholars that began in spring 1991 at the Conference Glasnost in Two Cultures in New York. Three dozen women, American Slavists, feminists, translators, and Russian women writers, gathered in an extraordinary meeting challenged by some misunderstanding of each others cultures. But relationships were born and continue to this day helping to create a stable and vital movement and bearing fruit in, among many ways, translations of womens short stories collections, occasional conferences, a Russian arm of Womens World Association, new publications.

Women writers conversation about feminism helped turn a new page in gender awareness in the USSR and later in Russia, brought to light new problems and approaches to them, and promoted gender equality in art. It changed popular culture; today young women writers write scripts for TV serials using gender glasses, promoting gender equality that challenges neoconservative and nationalistic trends in contemporary Russian public opinion.

Democracy without women is not democracy has not lost its importance in Russia. The dozens of new womens initiatives, the gender section of the social democratic Yabloko Party, the hundreds of pickets and protests against discrimination, harassment, and violence in cities and regions of Russia all speak to that. New generations are continuing the struggle that began during perestroika. This is the clear and inarguable success of Gorbachevs policies. So is the portrait of a Russian activist on the cover of Time.

Translated by Antonina W. Bouis

Read more:
Democracy Without Women Is Not Democracy - The Nation