I’m hearing Democracy has failed us and many are being lured toward a new system of

government. This brings me to an old family conversation I overheard as a kid, a different time

and circumstances but a time when many Americans were lured away from American-

Democracy, never to be heard from again.

My family history is similar to many Upper Peninsula Finnish-Americans, immigrating in the

late 1800s and early 1900s to escape economic hardship and Czar Nicholas II’s “Russification”

replacing Finnish culture. Finland was ruled by Sweden and then Russia. Finland did gain

independence in 1917, but sadly lost much of Finnish speaking Karelia.

Back to the kitchen table conversation, “One Finnish-American family my grandparents knew

were deceived by the Pied Piper into relocating to Karelia in the early 1930s, never to be heard

from again.” I researched deeper, and the Soviet Union launched a very successful propaganda

campaign during the Great Depression to lure skilled workers from both the United States and

Canada to Soviet-Karelia. Life in the U.S. was very difficult with unemployment hovered around

25%, and many Americans, not just Finns, thought democracy had failed them.

Stalin’s propaganda promised wealth and elevated social status if Finnish-Americans modernized

Finnish speaking Karelia. Images of gold leaf palaces and promise of prosperity convince

thousands to leave American-Democracy and take the extreme-Left off-ramp to Karelia. Once in

Karelia, Finns soon found themselves in poorer living conditions, but they helped electrify

Karelia, build factories, schools, and hospitals. Stalin soon viewed Finns’ influence and Karelia’s

growing independence a threat and labelled Finns who challenged his policies “Enemies of the

State”. There are documented accounts of massive late night raids disappearing Finn families.

On August 5, 1937, Stalin gave an order to “strengthen the fight against the enemies of the

people. It is estimated that in Eastern Karelia alone, 8,000 to 11,000 ethnic Finns and Finnish-

Americans were killed. An estimated 25,000-30,000 ethnic Finns were executed in the Soviet

Union in the 1930s.” Pikkaraninen family was labeled members of “counterrevolutionary

group”, taken away after midnight and executed in 1938. Finns lured away from American-

Democracy by the authoritarian Pied Piper of Karelia is a cautionary tale of broken promises and

horrific consequences.

Today, I hear a new Pied Piper’s tune trying to lure us away from our Founders’ vision. Begs to

question, are our political leaders in power dangling future prosperity and elevated social status

to those who pledge complete loyalty and hand over the keys to our Bill of Rights? Are they

exploiting Constitution loopholes to erode its very foundation? Is the current administration

labelling anyone who disagrees with administration’s policies “Enemies of the State”? If so,

when the day comes where you disagree with the government, will our Constitution still exist to

have your back? Once any authoritarian obtains complete power, whether extreme-Right or Left,

individual independence and dissent is crushed, and all individual protections disappear in the

rearview mirror.

I’m proud of my Finnish-American family heritage and their SISU to immigrate to the New

World, but most proud the Pied Piper of Karelia didn’t lure them from American-Democracy.

The visionary words written in our Founding documents matter, they protect all of us, Right-

Left-Centrist, from the terrorizing knock on the door at midnight. The only form of government

for a free society is a well-functioning American-Democracy. Let’s re-pledge our oath to

preserve, protect, and strengthen the Constitution of the United Sates, not be lured toward a new

system of government taking us into the unknown.

Democracy doesn’t fail us, we are seduced into leaving it.