The communists’ economic
system of surplus was such a dismal failure that it was necessary to hide for a
while. People were starving literally and figuratively for capitalism, economic
freedom, personal freedom, religious freedom, and a better life for their
families. They had reached the breaking point where suffering would change into
revolt.
The Romanian military finally
turned against their handlers and joined the exploited and long-suffering
citizens, deposing the brutal and totalitarian regime with its despised dictator
Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena.
The former communist
rulers and underlings scurried like rats, forgetting to destroy all the damning
evidence and documents collected over decades of terror, describing the utter
depravity of power and abuse against unarmed and defenseless citizens, who were
tortured, imprisoned, killed, and their personal possessions, savings, guns,
homes, and land confiscated.
Thus began the difficult
road to build a free market, a democratically elected government, and to recoup
through the justice system the wealth confiscated by the communist goons.
The problem was that those
in power were still the former communist elites who had given themselves new
titles and affiliations to various parties that were now forming the fragile
and corrupt parliamentary democracy.
One former communist party
apparatchik after another took the helm of the country. Money borrowed from the
west and earmarked for economic development seemed to disappear overnight. The new
rulers started amassing vast fortunes and companies with the money and property
confiscated from innocent citizens accused of political dissent during the prior
communist regime.
The former proletariat
(the workers – and we were all workers) benefited in several ways, primarily in
the increased standard of living.
1.
Thousands of
churches were built, Bibles and religion could be practiced openly again.
2.
The borders
opened to the European Union and a mass exodus of temporary workers commenced.
3.
Food became
plentiful - no more bare shelves, endless daily lines, fights over food, and
empty markets. Well-stocked supermarkets and malls opened in larger towns.
4.
Higher education
became more accessible to all and tuition was low. When it was free, communist
party members’ children had first choices.
5.
Primary and
secondary education became globalized, Romanian history forgotten, while
students were more and more alienated from their own cultural identity, encouraged
and prompted to become “global citizens.”
6.
The gypsy
population, the Doma people who call themselves Rroma, migrated back and forth to
the EU in search of work and lucrative businesses in the West.
7.
People could now
afford to take trips and vacations abroad and were allowed to do so.
8.
Citizens were no
longer watched by the Security Police all the time.
9.
The population
was free to own guns, hunt, and fish.
In spite of some progress,
no accountability was put in place because people did not understand democracy,
having been ruled by one tyrant after another over the centuries. People were indentured
slaves from the moment they were born.
We did not own anything –
the communist elites staked their claim to other peoples’ homes, land, anything
on the farm, chickens, pigs, cows, milk, goats, sheep, vegetables, corn, wheat,
eggs, cheese, or whatever a farmer produced.
Citizens welcomed
capitalism with open arms – it was a new era they dreamed about from movies
they had seen on TV and popular series like Dallas. Things began to privatize and
the political class was born from the seeds of the former commies now turned
into venture capitalists with other people’s money.
Without any vote or
referendum, the political class started to dismantle and sell, piece by piece,
the aging and non-profitable communist industrial base, factories, steel
plants, refineries, oil wells, minerals, coal mines, gold mines, and to cut
down forests for timber. The money was pocketed and shared with other
politicians who proceeded to build a huge population control machine – cabinets and agencies meant to control and
terrorize, much more powerful than the previous communist dictatorship.
When the money was spent
and the economic crisis ensued, the political class cut salaries 25 percent and
pensions 15 percent. The people objected to this forced austerity vehemently,
but nobody listened to them. The political class was in trouble and needed more
money.
The political class spent
the public money, billions and billions of dollars, and all they had to show
for were ill-designed infrastructure projects, roads full of potholes, high
unemployment, interstates that few people could afford to use, and walking
around money for meager briberies for low information voters who were used to
the communist nanny state and were unable to think or care for themselves
independently. Historical buildings were left to crumble and rust, museums to
decay, factories were abandoned, and streets turned into slaloms of pothole
avoidance.
The corrupt political
class dismantled the old regime and created new institutions, not because the
country could not exist or run without them, but because cronies wanted special
business treatment, special interests, a special position, or a title they’ve
always dreamed of holding without much education, merit, or effort and were
willing to pay.
Every year the new
legislative coalition created new organizations, new structures, new bosses,
new state secretaries, undersecretaries, new ministers, mayors, prefects, new institutions,
and an ever richer industrial complex.
The former members of the political
class never went away, they remained in the system and bloated it, corrupt and
without a moral compass, disregarding the law, evading taxes, bribing, and
further corrupting the entire political class system.
The economy was always in
a state of collapse under communism. The population welcomed “capitalism” with
a child-like naiveté and enthusiasm. They woke up eventually when they realized
that this capitalism was of the crony variety. The neo-communists and their crony
capitalists pushed the theft and corruption to the highest level.
Government is now huge,
turned into a monster by the political class while the people have watched
helplessly, unable to stop its growth and escalation of power. The former
commies and the new recruits are now the crony capitalists and the political
class.
The few honest politicians
get lost in the struggle for power. The political class is composed of parties
of liberals, democrats, social democrats, national liberals, communists, labor,
and other prominent minorities that dictate policies for the entire country.
