This is what original democracy looks like in Romania

In Romania we were joined by a genuine character—Vio.  He was our guide for 3 days.  He in turn introduced us to our driver of the coach, Mr. Nelo.  Mr. Nelo was not only an excellent driver, and a safe one at that, he is a successful business man. He runs a fleet of coach driver.

Vio talked as much about himself as he did Romania. He clearly loved Romania, but knew that his country was flawed.  He was very different than the Trumpsters in other words, who only see the greatness of their country. He was a former downhill skier. He still looked fit in his sixties.

One of the first things he did was to walk up and down the aisle of the coach to ask each of us what we wanted to know about Romania.  My question, to which he repeatedly tried to give an answer over the next 3 days was, given that so many of the countries of Europe, particularly the former Soviet satellites, were turning towards autocracy, to what extent is Romania a genuine democracy? He gave me a number of amusing answers. He did that by mocking the term the communists of Romania had given their enterprise, namely, “original democracy.”  In other words, they claimed to have a unique form of democracy. So unique, that many of us would not want to call it democracy at all, even less, “original democracy.”

To Vio, original democracy meant that it was unpredictable.  Really, that means that it does not operate according to rules. No democracy means that people can do whatever they want. Every country has rules to control actions. No country can allow people to drive on whatever side of the street they choose. But in Romania Vio claimed drastic reversals could happen in 24 hours.

First, Vio told us who he thought was the greatest man of the twentieth century?  I paused wondering who he would say.  Before I could come up with an answer he said, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. That seemed like a remarkable choice, but Vio had a good explanation.

Gorbachev was the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to its dissolution in 1991. Ideologically, he at first adhered to Marxist-Leninism, the official doctrine of the Soviet Union, but he gradually moved towards social democracy by the early 1990s. He, not Ronald Reagan, as so many Americans believe, was the driving force behind moving The Soviet Union and its satellites away from Communism.

To Vio however, the reason he admired him so much was and was the greatest man of the twentieth century was because as a result of him, Vio believed, he was able to speak his mind. Because of Gorbachev, he was free to answer the question I had posed.  Before the time of Gorbachev, it would have been very dangerous of me to ask such a question, and much more dangerous for him to answer it truthfully, since he lived in Romania, which was part of the Soviet empire. Vio called him “a gentle dictator.” That is what social democracy is too—gentle socialism.

As we were driving down National Highway No. 1 of Romania, which Vio said was the only national highway, he warned us that at times under Original Democracy it would become, the “National Parking Stall.”  Of course, we in the west are very familiar with this concept too. Often freeways become the “no free way.”

Romania is now part of the European Union which means that it must meet some minimal standards of democracy. Like Hungary which is also a member of the EU, Romania has its own currency.  Their own people acknowledge it is not much of a currency.  They call it “funny money”. No other country accepts it, but people who travel through it, like people who work on this boat will Romanian money since they can us it when they sail through it. According to Vio, it is a product of Original Democracy. Funny.

Since Romania joined the EU, its people must be free to live and work elsewhere. Many of them have taken advantage of that privilege. It used to have 22 million people, now about 5 million of those live abroad. They prefer real democracy, or perhaps just better economic benefits than that offered by Original Democracy. Original democracy did not sound very appealing.