EDITORIAL: Elections 2000 (10/15/00)

EDITORIAL

Elections 2000

The second of three presidential debates is behind us and for about a quarter of U.S. voters it is still not clear who will get their vote on November 7 - the first presidential election in this century. For Ukrainian Americans its also not clear who will be the best candidate to help Ukraine; in fact, this is the first election in, well, decades that some sort of issues surrounding the Soviet Union, or Eastern Europe, or newly independent states are not even being discussed. During Reagan's time, the "Evil Empire" issue was a central campaign theme that resonated strongly with Ukrainian Americans. For Bush Sr. in 1988 - Gorbachev's perestroika and events in Eastern Europe dominated news headlines. Clinton's first election came on the heels of a collapsed Soviet Union, and promises to assist the new, independent countries kept popping up in his campaign speeches during his second run. Now, except for celebrating Milosovic's defeat (finally) and George W.'s jab during the recent debate that monies from the West "ended up in Chernomyrdin's pockets," there's been almost no mention of anything between Prague and Vladivostock.

Even if the candidates are quiet, we would have expected something from the ad hoc Ukrainian Republican and Ukrainian Democrat coalitions that always become active around election time. The Democratic Party's ethnic coalition promoting Clinton's campaign was really hustling in '96 - writing statements, organizing events, providing policy analysis and the like, and in the 1980s the Ukrainian Republicans were out like gang-busters on both the local and national levels. Now: total silence. Nary a peep. Not a word. It's as though the Ukrainian American community reached an unspoken agreement to take a pass on this election cycle.

Maybe it's because neither candidate gives us either thrills or chills. However, we suspect, it has more to do with the disappointment with Ukraine, with the basic Soviet-style mentality and actions of its leaders and officials, the thin veneer of European-style democracy notwithstanding; disgust with the Chernomyrdin-style economic reform - better understood as "legalized" theft - that is just as pervasive in Ukraine as in Russia; and anger with the continuing degradation of the Ukrainian language and Ukraine's history and culture. As a result, many Ukrainian Americans really don't feel terribly passionate about helping Ukraine. Besides, the big issues - independence recognition, the start of political and economic transformation - have been addressed.

There are, however, other issues - maybe not as big, but also important for Ukraine's development as a healthy nation - such as continued U.S. support for Ukraine's integration into Europe; funding for well-targeted and well-executed programs to develop democracy and civil society to help break the oppressive load of leftover Soviet bureaucracy; continued insistence that contractors and consultants using U.S. funds in Ukraine manage and execute their programs using the Ukrainian language; and ongoing U.S. support for humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, especially in the area of health care.

But more than any one issue, it's important to remember why so many people wanted Ukrainian independence in the first place. As Orest Deychakiwsky, a longtime staff member of the U.S. Helsinki Commission and a recipient this year of The Washington Group's Leadership Award, noted in his award acceptance speech: "It is critically important to remember that the struggle for independence was a struggle not just to throw off foreign domination, but it also was - and to some extent continues to be - a struggle to restore the human dignity of the Ukrainian people."

Even if you are really disgusted with the schlemiels who are entrusted with being Ukraine's leaders, and are deeply saddened by the demoralization felt by so many Ukrainians, and feel helpless before the state of spiritual and moral decay, and are angered that so many in Ukraine have irresponsibly and carelessly, with arrogance and pettiness and peevishness, disregarded unique historic opportunities - it is precisely in this area, the restoration of dignity, that there's still plenty of work to be done. And with our votes, we can, and should, look to our elected officials to help us do that.

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