May 16, 2010

Just an afterthought to to my democracy versus dictatorship 'doctoral thesis'.

Hungary, where I came from changed from the Russian dominated rule to a democratic system after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In 1989 they established a democratically elected government, re-wrote the constitution, introduced civil liberties and started their economic decline.

Today, they have a capitalistic, yet democratic system. Corruption in every level of life matches any South American or Third World country.

There is an upper class and a very large lower/poor class. There is no middle class. There is a 10.8% unemployment that will not get any better. There is crime and there is a poor excuse for police.

At one time foreign companies loved the place, now they are closing up shops one after another because of the political climate and the economical situation there.

There is a very strong anti Israel and antisemitic sentiment all over the country as well as other racial problems.

Neo-nazi movements are tolerated and at the recent parliamentary elections an openly neo-nazi party obtained the third largest number of votes.

Hungary changed its political system in 1989 but wanted to get to the same level of capitalism as the US is in a very short time. In the US it took two hundred years to get to where it is now.

Hungary wanted to do it in a month. The same situation prevails in most of the former Eastern Block countries.

First of all, all the 'brotherly love' that prevailed while the Soviets ruled went out the window. Now they all openly hate each other. Look at the former Yugoslavia. Look at the former Soviet Republics.

Some of these countries ran into the arms of NATO and the European Union to show how trustworthy they are. Even though the general population was against such moves the then current governments thought that by belonging they would be protected against Russia.

Now, they are all turning towards Russia again because Russia controls their oil and natural gas supplies and Russia still is a major commercial partner.

But even in Russia itself people are not that convinced that the old regime was not better than the current system.

The only party that is happy with the way things are is the United States. But the US always supported governments that were not altogether in the clean side of law as long as it was profitable for them and they could maintain a presence there.

But at the first sign of trouble they will turn their backs and walk away. In 1956, during the Hungarian Revolution I heard on Radio Free Europe the announcement from the Americans that keep fighting, hold on we are coming!

They never did, they never intended to.

So I ask again, which system is better?

I forgot to add to the positive side of democracy, everybody can have a passport and are free to travel. If they can afford it.

May 15, 2010

Is democracy really better than dictatorship?

Since I lived under both systems I can argue the benefits and the disadvantages of both. But since I am not a philosopher nor a politician I can only express my views on the subject. And boy, do I have some views.

The dictatorship I lived under was after World War II and lasted for me until 1956. I was young, under twenty years old and I didn't see all the horrors of it. Most of my knowledge comes from what I read and heard.

As a student I was not really exposed to all the negative things the regime created. And anyway, I didn't know any better and I felt that since I didn't know what I was missing, I wasn't missing anything.

For grown ups, for families and wage earners it was a lot worse. The lack of free decision was stifling everybody. We had no idea how good or bad we were off since foreign travel was almost non existent, foreign news was strictly controlled, exchange of ideas and experiences was not something frequently done.

So we had nothing to compare our situation to.

People had no money but nobody had money. There were no luxuries but nobody had luxuries. There was not much food around but nobody was swimming in surplus. We thought that was the way life was supposed to be.

There was no unemployment, there was very little crime (at least what we knew of).

We, students didn't have to think about life decisions because all decisions were made for us higher up.

The government said they represented us and we believed it and every four years they were reelected with overwhelming majority. Which was very easy in a one party system.

There was no such a thing as a recount or impeachment. These words were not in our vocabulary.

Their slogan was: if you are not with us, you are against us. And being against the regime was not a healthy thing to do.

There were benefits for new mothers, there were paid vacations, there was free medical care, there was free schooling and there were benefits paid after young children.

One thing everybody could count on was the paycheck since avoiding work was a crime.

It was a dictatorship by any means. Even though they called themselves the representatives of the working class it was still a strong arm regime. There was a constitution but nobody had any guts to quote it.

The members of the ruling elite lived high on the hog. But their lifestyles and decisions were never questioned. There were no tabloids who lived off scandals so nothing was known about the leaders.

The police was not unnecessarily brutal but they were still respected. Nobody dared to tell a policeman to leave because he didn't have any right to be in one's home.

That is the way I saw the world I lived in back then. It was not that terrible yet, it was not that good either.

Now, I live in a democratic world. Everything is a hundred and eighty degrees different. Here we have a constitution that is being strictly followed (when convenient). Here we make our own decisions and take the responsibility for them.

Here work is not guaranteed and people are exposed to the employers' whims and desires. Schooling is expensive as is health care.

Here there are homeless and there are billionaires and never the twain shall meet. Here there are foreclosures and buyouts and mergers.

The members of the ruling class live high on the hog and keep telling us how lucky we are that they are the ones who are representing our interests.

The members of the elected governments lie and cheat in order to advance their own agenda that has nothing to do with what the people want.

But here we all have passports and can travel freely wherever we want. And we all know how people live in other parts of the world. And that doesn't make us very satisfied.

Many years ago when the first influx of Russian emigrants arrived in New York they settled in Brooklyn in the Brighton Beach area. Few years later a reporter visited the neighborhood and asked them how was life in the new country.

They complained that after they arrived here and settled they were left alone, nobody cared about them any longer, nobody came forward with help.

They said they were not used to this kind of life because at home their lives were preplanned by others.

The reporter told them this was a free country and everybody was to do whatever he wanted. Their response was that this was too much freedom and that was not good.

We are living in a free society. In a society where institutions are free to steal people's money under false pretenses. In a society that permits elements like Madoff to exist and steal. In a society where banks are free to rule every aspects of our lives.

We are living in a free society where if one has no money that person is nobody and he can freely die of hunger on the street.

In the nineteenth century there was a Hungarian poet who wrote a poem comparing hungry, shivering wolves in a snow storm to full bellied dogs who were sleeping in the warm room at the feet of their masters waiting for their scraps of food.

The wolves comment to the comparison was that at least they were free!