DEMOCRACY IN UKRAINE

Flying home

My wake-up call came at 4:15 this morning. I had 45 minutes to check out of the hotel and meet the IRI driver for the return trip to Kyiv Boysbil airport.

Dr. George Fauriol, IRI's senior vice president, was on the same flight. We rode out to the airport together.

Along the way, we had a long chat about some possible next steps for IRI in Ukraine. We opined on the meaning of the election outcome and speculated about the most likely parliamentary alliances to form a new governing coalition in the Verkhovna Rada.

Election returns still coming in

George and I had a few hours in Munich until our flight to the USA boarded. Even as we waited to depart, IRI staff emailed new election updates from Ukraine. With 95% of polling stations reporting, the results were as follows:

Party of Regions - 31.4%

Julia Tymoshenko bloc - 22.4%

Our Ukraine - 14.3%

Socialists - 5.8%

Communists - 3.3%

All other parties have so far fallen under the 3% threshold required to seat a member in the Rada. The party of Vladimir Litvyn, the current Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, failed to meet the threshold. The Rada will have to find a new Speaker.

Thinking back

Right now, I'm typing these notes on my laptop 36,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean. People on this plane are speaking English and it sounds strange after a week of being surrounded by Ukrainian and Russian voices.

The flight has given me a bit of time to sleep, decompress and think back on the past week. I saw and learned a lot.

On every trip to Ukraine, I pick up more of the language and I always resolve to get more serious about learning to speak it more proficiently. I have language tapes and workbooks, but I quickly get immersed in other priorities after every trip. Still, my intention right now is to make this trip different.

For my first few trips as a U.S. Congressman, I suppose I was nostalgic about being in the land of my mom's ancestry — the "old country" as her parents' called it. I still get a little nostalgic, but I've come to appreciate Ukraine more for the economic, political and social challenges there.

Plus, I've made friends with many in the country's leadership and I've found a few who genuinely want the best for their people.

On this level, Ukraine is just as often frustrating and disappointing — yet absolutely intriguing. In his work "Samson Agonistes," English poet John Milton summed up, 335 years ago, the classic dilemma confronting Ukraine today:

But what more oft, in nations grown corrupt,

And by their vices brought to servitude,

Than to love bondage more than liberty—

Bondage with ease than strenuous liberty—

A beautiful country

The rural settings of Ukraine are the best, in my opinion. But in the 11 trips I have now completed to Ukraine, I have visited the Ukrainian countryside on just three. Ukraine has wonderful museums, natural areas and historic cathedrals, an impressive history and superb cuisine.

I just never seem to work enough of this into my agenda when I go there.

The truth is, I like the interaction with Ukrainian leaders, with missionaries, with the Church, with anyone engaged in securing what Milton called "strenuous liberty." I've made lots of friends in these circles. These are the Ukrainians who steal your heart and make you care.

They put the disappointments of Ukraine in the proper context. The country has been a battleground for more than 1,500 years. It still is.

It is a battlefield of ideas: Individual authority vs. state rule. Free markets vs. central control. Private property vs. the collective. Opportunity vs. constraint. Foreign engagement vs. isolationism. Faith vs. atheism.

Ukraine is still a hard place to do business. Its laws are not entirely dependable. The country doesn't market itself particularly well. But every year, it gets better.

Proud of Ukrainian roots

I thank God every day that my grandparents found a way to bring their young peasant family to the United States of America — along with a few of their Ukrainian traditions. Their six grandkids have all turned out okay. We're all American patriots.

Today we all have our own families and kids and we savor the American virtues that attracted grandma and grandpa here in the first place. I have to think that their hard lives made them want something better for their daughters and their grandchildren.

Like so many others of their day, they not only had the courage to achieve strenuous liberty in the USA, they devoted their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to keep it.

Speaking about Ukraine

Passing through Customs back in the U.S. a couple hours ago, my BlackBerry buzzed, indicating e-mails were being received. One is from Tania, a Ukrainian acquaintance who lives in Denver.

Tania e-mailed: "Hi Bob! It's great what you're doing in Ukrayina. When are you coming back to CO? Our new pastor, Fr. Alex Avramenko, has asked me to officially invite you from the Parish, to come and speak to us about your experience in Ukraine at our "Sviachene" (Easter meal) on Sunday April 23rd. The Liturgy will be at 10:30 a.m., and the meal will start around noon.

"Please let me know if you can make it. Remember, the address is:

"Transfiguration Ukrainian Catholic Church
"4118 Shoshone Street
"Denver, CO 80211"

What an honor to be invited to things like this. Posting blog updates at DenverPost.com, speaking to Ukrainians at a Sviachene, communicating with the Ukrainian diaspora, interacting with Ukrainian politicians, and talking in Colorado classrooms and on college campuses about such an interesting country - I love this stuff!

I'll accept the invitation to speak at the Sviachene. If anyone reading this in Colorado wants to come along, e-mail Tania at Soniashnyk@aol.com and let her know you'll be there.

Trust me, you'll love this stuff, too.

Former U.S. Congressman Bob Schaffer, a member of the Colorado State Board of Education, is an election observer for the Parliamentary elections in Ukraine. The election is coming up this Sunday, March 26.