Rocky road to democracy: A struggle with legacy of two totalitarian regimes Review

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Rocky road to democracy: A struggle with legacy of two totalitarian regimes ReviewThis paper discusses history of Czechoslovakia with respect to its democratic development. During its short history, it became part of two totalitarian states, first it became a Protectorate of the Nazi Germany, and after the WW2 it fell into the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union. It is interesting to see how it happened that Czechoslovakia emerged on the winning side and became part of the Soviet Block. The book is brief and contains large number of references.
CONSTITUTION & DEMOCRACY: This section contains overview of constitutional development, including origins of these documents. Czechoslovakia was a result of President Wilson's effort to recognize smaller nations as partners; and such it emerged from the WW1 as a newly established national state carved out from the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. The 1920 Constitution written by Prof Hoetzel was mainly based on the Constitution of the U.S.A., December Constitution of the Austrian Hungarian Empire, and Constitution of the Third French Republic. First serious constitutional crisis occurred in 1938/9, after the Munich crisis, which then President Benes resolved by abdication. New President, Hacha, was elected before establishment of the Nazi Protectorate. Critical incident decision-making is discussed in this section in an attempt to understand behavior of key figures. Series of international agreements was signed by the exile government of Edvard Benes in London, and after the war before the elections of May 1946. Constitutional vacuum between 1945 and 1948 is seen as a key condition of violence relating to post-war atrocities in Czechoslovakia.
KEY POINTS FROM HISTORY: This section contains critical incidents from the history of Czechoslovakia in relation to their impact on democratic development. Attention is paid to victimization and marginalization of two important figures of Czechoslovak pre-war political scene, Radola Gajda and Milan Rastislav Stefanik. Abdication of Edvard Benes and consent with establishment of Protectorate signed under duress by Hacha created very difficult legal situation for anti-Nazi resistance, both domestic and foreign. This is compared to the situation in Lithuania, where President Smetona refused to approve Russian demands with his signature and fled the country. Shortly after the war, before the conference in Potsdam, several hundred thousands of civilians were slaughtered and about 3 million expelled in a wave of national revenge which was legally grounded in the Presidential Decrees. Agreements signed by the exile government of Edvard Benes during the war are presented in detail, and full text of the most important ones is also enclosed as Appendix. The impact of the so-called Kosice government program from April 1945 on post-war development is discussed as well. After the Communist coup in 1948, the new government launched terror against various groups of population. In 1960's, the regime relaxed its grip until the Soviet invasion of 1968. After the Velvet revolution of 1989, the country had to cope with legacies of the past, including devastating effects of long-term oppression on behavior of the population.
ELECTORAL SYSTEM and THE POWER OF MEDIA: Suffrage, voting power, and electoral system are presented very briefly just to explain the most relevant constraints, explained on the example of non-communist candidate Pavel Wonka, who died in prison after his attempt to run for a public office. Language barrier, spreading of misinformation and exploitation of unlawfully obtained secret recordings for coercion are seen as the most important constraints in development toward democracy.
CONDITIONS OF POLYARCHAL DEMOCRACY: This part compares the current situation in the Czech Republic to the principles of polyarchal democracy as defined by Dahl: elected representation; free, fair, and frequent elections; alternative sources of information; freedom of expression; associational autonomy; and inclusive citizenship.
CONCLUSION: Statistically, the biggest cause of civilian deaths is an authoritarian government. The system can have many formal characteristics of a democracy, and be in fact a ruthless despotic regime with high level of democide.Rocky road to democracy: A struggle with legacy of two totalitarian regimes Overview

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Building Fluency Through Practice and Performance: American History (Text for Fluency Practice) Review

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Building Fluency Through Practice and Performance: American History (Text for Fluency Practice) ReviewHello, my name is Timothy Rasinski. I am the co-author of the book Building Fluency through Practice and Performance: American History, including this one quote that seems to have caused so much uproar on The Glenn Beck Show, March 2, 2011, and Michael Opelka's article that appeared in the blog The Blaze, March 2, 2011:
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare,
People's basic needs must be met in a country. Needs for housing, education, transportation, and health care are overseen by our government system."
Let me say first that I am proud to be an American and consider myself a patriot. I served honorably in the United States Armed Forces. I am a member of the American Legion as well as Disabled American Veterans. My son has spent the last 10 years in the US Armed Forces and has done multiple tours of duty in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
I regret that my writing has offended so many people watching Glenn Beck's television show, writing on The Blaze blog, and who wrote such negative reviews of the book on Amazon. While I respect the right of anyone to disagree with what I write or say, I have found so many of the comments posted about myself and my book hurtful, inappropriate, and disturbing to say the least. Beyond the name calling that made up so much of the blog responses, let me respond to a few points raised by Mike Opelka in his article that appeared in The Blaze and Glenn Beck on his show:
Beck and Opelka liken student choral reading (they call it "chanting") of the Preamble to a kind of indoctrination akin to what is happening in North Korea. The truth is that the only text the students recite in unison are the actual words in the Preamble. The remainder is read by individual students, not as a group. Moreover, if "chanting," as he calls it, is a form of indoctrination, then what do Beck and Opelka think of the daily recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance? What do they think of students in the reading clinic that I supervise who chorally sing "God Bless America" and "America the Beautiful" during our Independence Day celebration we hold every year near the American flag that flies outside of the school in which we work? (By the way, the struggling readers who attend our reading clinic routinely make 4-6 months progress in reading during the month that we work with them--that's another thing I am proud of. Moreover, the teachers of these students who make such great progress are almost entirely public and parochial teachers who have been so terribly vilified by bloggers on The Blaze.)
What do Beck and Opelka think of students reciting in unison "In Flanders Field" or choral singing of the "US Marine Corps Hymn" on Veterans' Day and Memorial Day? What do they think of students "chanting" Walt Whitman's "Oh Captain! My Captain" on President Lincoln's birthday? Do they consider these chants indoctrination also?
How about church? Using Beck's and Opelka's logic, the prayers that we often recite in unison (for example, The Lord's Prayer) are a form of indoctrination.
Mr. Opelka asks in his article, "When did the Preamble or the Constitution include the government meeting the people's needs for housing, transportation and health care?"
Well, the Preamble leaves out a lot. It's a short, powerful document that deals with general principles to guide our nation. For example, it says nothing about an Air Force. Does that mean that the United States Air Force is unconstitutional?
Many of the writers posting on this blog state that the text in the Preamble "promote the general welfare" is not the same as "provide the general welfare," which these writers apparently feel is stated in the text I authored. These critics are putting words into my text that do not exist. In reality, my text says nothing about "providing the general welfare." It says simply that:
"People's basic needs must be met in a country. Needs for housing, education, transportation, and health care are overseen by our government system. Labor laws ensure that people work in safe environments...."
It says nothing about government providing those needs--only that those needs must be met. Government does not necessarily need to provide those services, but those services do need some level of regulation. Do The Blaze bloggers and reviewers of my book on Amazon really object to child labor laws? Do they really object to regulations requiring some degree of safety to the food we eat and the medicines we take? Do they honestly object to people obtaining driver's permits without demonstrating some degree of competence in driving?
Legislation that oversees housing, education, transportation, health care, and labor does exist. This legislation has not been found to be unconstitutional.
You may disagree with me, but I think the words "promote the general welfare" include that sort of oversight.
I suspect that many of the negative comments about my book were made by people who have not actually read the entire book, let alone the one passage in question in its entirety. I am fine with criticism; it is the sign of a healthy democracy. However, I find it very troubling when the criticism is made solely on the basis of comments by Mr. Beck on his television show and Mr. Opelka's article, which deal with only a few lines taken out of context from the entire text.
One of The Blaze bloggers commenting on the "cherry picking" of quotes from the book by Beck and Opelka wrote the following:
Doesn't it seem that perhaps a lot is being hung on this handful of lines from one workbook in one series? You can see large chunks of the book online, and it includes choral readings of "God Bless America" and "My Country `Tis of Thee." It includes a flattering description of Ronald Reagan ("He made an effort to invigorate the economy and lessen America's dependency on government. Through five historical meetings with the head of the Soviet Union, he was able to finally see progress in the Cold War"). In the section of American songs, there's a section devoted to military songs. This hardly seems like the work of some socialist cabal of educational authors and publishers. In other words, if one wanted to look for propaganda in a text like this, one could imagine a case being made that this text, which is supposed to be about American history, is needlessly jingoistic, religious, and militarist. I'm not making that argument, but there's certainly plenty that could be quoted in isolation that could support it. In any text on a topic like American history, it's impossible to avoid issues of perceived propaganda.
Many of the comments written by critics of my book indicate that they did not have positive experiences in school. I, for one, loved school and learned a lot there. Among the things that my dedicated, knowledgeable, hard working, kind, and patriotic teachers taught me were these:
1. I learned to read and think critically for myself. I don't have to agree with everything I am exposed to in print or any media. I have a brain, and I should use it to analyze what I read. I should not agree with something someone tells me simply because that person says it is so.
2. Although I don't have to agree with the ideas and opinions of others, I do need to be respectful of others and their opinions.
3. If I do disagree with the ideas and opinions of others, I need to base my disagreement on a full reading and understanding of the material with which I disagree. Certainly, I was taught never to allow my thoughts and opinions to be rushed to judgment based on the second-hand analysis of cherry-picked ideas made by people who admittedly are already biased in their opinions.
I hope those who criticize my book will take the time to read the entire book, not four lines.
Sincerely,
Timothy Rasinski, Ph.D.
Kent State University
Building Fluency Through Practice and Performance: American History (Text for Fluency Practice) Overview

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