A True Political Hero For Our Times

Alexei Navalny is what we need - but no longer have - in the United States: A political hero.

We have politicians, some better than others. But each one of them, from the lowliest member of the school board trying to shove critical race theory down our throats, to the president pale in comparison to this Russian dissident.

For years, Navalny has led a one-man crusade to expose corruption in Russia. He ran for office, losing in what were universally considered rigged elections. He's been targeted for death. Nonetheless, this patriot who was living safely outside of his native country returned to Moscow earlier this month, and was promptly arrested. He is now in jail, for what was officially described as a 30-day term, but what might end up being a death sentence.

Navalny's archenemy, President Vladimir Putin, has some experience with silencing dissidents. Putin is suspected in the murders of vocal critics over the years, including journalists who stepped too close to the flame.

And then there were the poisonings of political rivals, including former KG--agent Alexander Litivenenko, who died in one of the first documented cases of polonium poisoning. Litivenenko was a frightening example of Putin's reach, since he was living in the U.K. at the time of his murder.

Navalny was also the target of a Putin assassination attempt. Last August, he became sick during a flight to Moscow. Evacuated to Berlin and hospitalized, he was diagnosed with a nerve agent in his system, irrefutable evidence of poisoning.

So what has Navalny done from behind prison walls? Has he kept silent in the hopes that he will be released and allowed to rejoin the resistance abroad?

No.

The day after his arrest, Navalny's network released the results of a mammoth investigation into Putin's wealth, exposing a massive web of corruption.

Some call this political courage foolish. What purpose, they asked, could his martyrdom serve?

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