And a mockery of democracy The massacre of pro-democracy supporters in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989 stays with me. I was out of town on business and saw the shocking reports in my hotel room. Maybe I remember because the next day I joined 6,000 Chinese students from across the Midwest in a protest in downtown Chicago. Or maybe we all remember because of “Tank Man.“ Anne Applebaum reminds Twitter that, far from China, Polish voters on the same day chose democracy in “partly-free elections that contributed to the fall of communism” (Associated Press): In the election, Poles voted heavily for Solidarity candidates over communists in a clear sign that they wanted a change of power. That vote accelerated the fall of communism in Poland later in 1989, and fueled the wave of revolutions in eastern Europe over the following year or two. “Poland showed to Europe and to the whole world that you can build a democracy without violence or bloodshed,” European Council leader Donald Tusk said during ceremonies in his hometown of Gdansk. Tusk was a Solidarity activist and served as Poland’s prime minister from 2007-2014. After Jan. 6, 2021, Americans must worry whether they can keep their democracy without more violence and bloodshed. Also on this day, but in 1940, the British completed the evacuation of over 300,000 troops from the beaches of Dunkirk: Winston Churchill called the evacuation a “miracle of deliverance” but the entire Dunkirk failure a “colossal military disaster.” On 4 June, the last day…