From the NEW YORK TIMES:
BUDAPEST — In less than two years as a member of the Hungarian Parliament, Timea Szabo says she has looked on helplessly as the ruling Fidesz Party has used its two-thirds majority to tighten its grip on the news media and the courts, redraw parliamentary districts in its favor and pack the constitutional court with supporters. On Jan. 1, a new “majoritarian” Constitution written and ratified by Fidesz takes hold.
“They are preparing the funeral for the Hungarian Republic,” Ms. Szabo said. Opposition groups, including Ms. Szabo’s small, green Politics Can Be Different Party, known by its Hungarian abbreviation L.M.P., have called for a demonstration on Friday against the “demolition of democracy” by Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Democracy here is dying not with a single giant blow but with many small cuts, critics say, through the legal processes of Parliament that add up to a slow-motion coup. And in its drift toward authoritarian government, aided by popular disaffection with political gridlock and a public focused mainly on economic hardship, Hungary stands as a potentially troubling bellwether for other, struggling Eastern European countries with weak traditions of democratic government…
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EDITOR: The Hungarian Constitutions can be ammended by a vote to a super majority in the Parliament. Circumstances allowed the Fidez party to achieve the required percentage and they are taking full advantage the unusual situation.
What the Fidez government is doing to Hungary is irresponsible. “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Lest we think evil only exists elsewhere, let’s look how the Republican Party in Pennsylvania is gerrymanderning Congressional districts in Pennsylvania and thus subverting democracy. Where there is no effective media and where the public is inattentive, power runs unchecked.
