Political waves are being made in Poland, and not necessarily the beneficial kind. In 2015, the president of Poland was elected into parliament from the Law and Justice party, the country's largest party. This success for the party put the eight year long coalition government of the Civic Platform party and the Polish People's party into opposition, and no left wing parties were able to reach the threshold to earn any representation in the Polish parliament.
So what does this all mean, and what does it have to do with the rest of the world?
More recently, leaders of the newly elected Law and Justice party have been behaving in such a way that could potentially cause the European Union to impose sanctions on the Polish government. In this sense, a sanction would be some sort of penalty against Poland for acting in a way that does not coincide with the morals of the European Union.
So what has the Polish government done that would make them deserve to have sanctions against their government?
The new government in power by the Law and Justice party has done some work so they can have more control over the media, and they made a few changes at the top court so the court's ability to block legislation could be reduced. In the simplest of terms, Poland is a democratic country. This means that their citizens have the right to free speech and freedom of press, among other rights. If the Polish government chooses to filter the media, it goes against the rights of their people, and it goes against the morals of the European Union. Sounds a little bit like something out of the novel 1984 perhaps.
In addition to this, the Polish government is attempting to reduce the power of their courts, one of the branches of power in a democracy. If the power of the courts is reduced, then it puts more power with the legislative and executive areas, which could furthermore produce a lawmaking cabinet that has too much power, which could lead to an eventual corruption.
The European Union, along with the German government, has increased scrutiny on the Polish government for behaving this way after thousands of Polish citizens have taken to the streets to protest against the new government. Along with these acts, the new Polish government has decided to strengthen its bonds with the more eurosceptic United States and United Kingdom, even though Polish allies in the past have mostly been countries like Germany and France. This causes the European Union increased worry, because Poland is one of the most influential countries in the EU. The European Union embraces European values, and the way Poland has been aligning itself could pose for certain repercussions for not only Poland, but for the rest of Europe and possibly the United States, as well.
As citizens of the United States, our country is the classic example of a successful democracy. We are based upon the fundamental rights of self expression. Instead of pushing a situation like the one in Poland to the side, we should defend the Polish citizens because they fear for their rights that we too often take for granted.
