The
Ceausescu regime argued that this predominately vacant
Romanian Parliament building would be desired as a
palace from which to govern 21 million Romanians
Why
would a regime want to burden its poor people to build a
totally gratuitous palace for the
communist autocracy to rule
over a small country the size of the US
State of Oregon
What do we learn from History?
We do
learn from history but what we learn from history is generally slanted toward
the things that concur with our prior prejudice. We tend to pick and choose the
parts of history that suits our purpose. We seem to have an innate ability to
ignore history that does not deliver our desired outcome. How else can we
possibly explain our tendency to follow the policies and practices of societies
and civilizations that have repeatedly and so miserably failed?
If you visit and
browse nations of all political stripes and listen to their citizens then you
will learn from recent history. You may begin to revisit your current wealth of
knowledge for answers that seem to conflict with what you are witnessing first
hand. You begin to challenge the origins of information that fly in the face of
fact. It becomes disturbing to discover or rediscover the thoughts and observations
of individuals such as Aristotle, John Adams, Oswald Spengler, Ayn Rand etc.
Equally disturbing is the realization that the source of that same dismissal of
history is the smug suggestion that we are in modern times so this new ‘Age of
Enlightenment’ protects us from the failures of the past.
Of all
the despotic oligarchs perhaps Romania is one of the most pronounced example of
political subjugation of its people. Lack of ‘Term Limits’ allowed Communist
Party Leader Nicolae Ceausescu to turn Romania from the typical short lived
benefit of socialism, with world leaders of the 70’s visiting and admiring
Romania’s ‘Shining City on the Hill’ to its inevitable downfall into moral
decay and devastation. You may well ask, how could this happen?
Ceausescu and his gaggle of know-it-alls placed an inordinate amount of resources and faith in the reputed supremacy of academia perhaps because he had so little. Academia wilts like a flower in the face of corruption, cronyism, inane and debilitating rules and regulations.
Over burdening the taxpaying citizens drove their underground economy, devoured their commerce, and generally impeded the country’s ability to meet its obligations.
The Ceausescu regime caused one of the most successful agricultural exporting nations of the Eastern Block into a nation that now must import much of its food. Academia tried but failed to replace Romania’s agri-expert farmers who fled the country primarily to farm in Spain. Now much of the county’s fields lie fallow. Ceausescu scared away investment to such a degree that his abundance of oil and ‘Oil Export Revenue’ turned into the ‘Need to Import’.
As recently as spring 2010 nearly 500 doctors abandoned their home country of Romania.
'A nation that no longer competes is forced to export its academic and qualified lay expertise'.
Observing the consequence of not learning from History
As things tightened up and Romania began its decline the Ceausescu regime embarked on an ever escalating crusade to buy prosperity and to spend its way back to health. Their crowning achievement was the building of the world’s second largest building (second only to the US Pentagon) as the predominately vacant Romanian Parliament building. Is it possible that this privately desired edifice to vanity was the predictable final straw.
A study of Romanian communism within this autocratic/repression
dialectical framework, examines the relationship between ideological fanaticism
and public policy in the Ceausescu regime. It discusses the ways in which the
regime used tactics of manipulation, persuasion, and repression to cope with
threats it saw as simultaneously domestic and foreign. The theory behind this
approach, therefore, could be applied to ANY OTHER cases of repressive,
autocratic dictatorship.
Following their inability to hide financial abuse and fiscal failure the Ceausescu regime began a campaign to stifle descent, the right to free speech, and suppression of civil liberties. In desperation they began to use their secret police to chase down their own dissenting citizens for torture and murder. Many of the same communist individuals are still in charge but now they refer to themselves as socialists or liberals. They are still standing in the way of Romania’s progress by continuing with debilitating impediments. They have burdened their businesses into oblivion or migration.
On December 21, 1989 Ceausescu and his wife stepped out onto a balcony to receive accolades from a gathered crowd of 350,000. What they got were jeers and boos, a 2 hour trial and were summarily executed by firing squad on Christmas morning!
Corruption is still part of daily life in Romania, with almost half of Romanians admitting to paying bribes.
Now the EC is putting increasing pressure on the
Romanian government to end bribery.
Some officials struggle against the rampant corruption but it often results in
their dismissal. It's an ongoing battle between the politicians exploiting
corruption and those fighting it. But following a push from Europe a number of
high profile politicians have been charged, to the delight of Romanians.
Romanians want to see convictions.
'We must learn from History or suffer the consequence of repeating Historic failures'.
Are you suffering from Bureaucratic Bullying?
You have Rights!
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