Social Justice Politics Have Made Their Way into Romania

President Klaus Johannis and his wife

Photo: Ileana Johnson 2018

Politics in general have always been dirty, hard to grasp, and corrupt, but lately it has been irrational, based on the current low information electorate who, although bombarded with more information than ever, is more easily swayed or bullied into submission to a predetermined result.

People still vote based on their own preconceived notions, interests, the candidate personal charisma, their philosophy, and misinformation from the MSM they accept as absolute truth, without bothering to check on their own either because they are either too busy or too lazy. Electioneering by volunteers or by paid individuals further muddies the waters. People know that politics make strange bedfellows.

Some individuals promise their votes for empty promises, a drink, a chicken in every pot, a cheap cell phone, walking around cash, higher salaries, government contracts, or a sought-after position – it depends how high the voting stakes are.

The political atmosphere in Romania is as frustrating as that in America, involving many parties in Parliament, with a vast cadre of uneducated people, characters in a reality show composed of “red herrings” – misleading puppets and distractions from the larger picture in which the real global movers and shakers perform their acts of social engineering in an effort to destroy statehood and distinct historical nations with boundaries.

One of the global movers, the European Union, has appointed Laura Codrut Kovesi to one of its higher posts of European Chief Prosecutor, in an effort to show Romanians that their voices matter in the EU’s overall globalist effort. Nobody can accuse them of not being inclusive, they now have another rubber stump for their plans. She is much beloved by young Romanians and by Transylvanians who are much more cosmopolitan and globalist inclined.

In the name of the law and anti-corruption, she was chosen to create an institution in which orders are followed in order to introduce the desired outcome.

Politics and loyalties are upside down in Romania. The global #resisters who work for NGOs (non-governmental organizations) claim to be liberals on the right. Those on the left, who tend to be nostalgic for communism, are quite dumb as politicians go and are very nationalistic which infuriates the #resisters.

Communists allegedly no longer exist as the party has been ruled out of existence, but all children of important former communists, of Securitate personnel, of the Communist Party enforcers, and of the old torturers under communism, have cleaned up their image and have become “hashtag-ers” and big pro-Europeans.

PSD (The Social Democrat Party) with 158 seats in the Chamber of Deputies is the governing party in Parliament. PSD was founded by Ion Iliescu, the first president of Romania after the “revolution” of 1989, himself a former communist and member of the nomenklatura.

Following the “fall” of communism, Ion Iliescu served as Romania’s president until his retirement in 2008, which proves that communist indoctrination is hard to eradicate. PSD’s current leader is Viorica Dancila, Prime Minister, replacing Liviu Dragnea who was accused of “abuse of service.”

PNL (the National Liberal Party) holds second position in Parliament with 69 seats. Founded in 1990, PNL is the “conservative” liberal party, the social liberals of the party by the same name that existed in 1875-1940s under the Kingdom of Romania.

D. Roby explained that politics is very complicated in Romania. “PNL is the party of the mainstream, PSD is the euro-skeptic party, and USR (Uniunea Salvati Romania) is the sort of the Soros-educated party filled with people who range in spectrum from globalists, to Hungarian nationalists, to young people in Cluj [western Transylvania] who hate Bucharest [the capital] and dream of getting autonomy for Transylvania and one day separating from the rest of Romania.”

President Johannis, a Transylvanian from Brasov and a Romanian of German heritage, was a potential successor to the European Commission President but he did not make the cut to replace Junker. President Johannis may or may not be a globalist but he sees Romania’s success in the future tied to its participation in international institutions such as the European Union. Romania became EU member in 2007.

D. Roby said that “Romania imports more consumer goods than it exports” and, as a result, the majority of people in Romania, who are still poor by European standards, are paying for overpriced imports from Western Europe, sometimes produced with inputs purchased cheaply from Romania, (i.e. native berries which grown abundantly in Romania are made into an expensive berry preserve in Germany) when Romanians could have produced such consumption goods cheaper on their own domestic market.

Additionally, many consumption goods are inferior in quality, produced specifically for the Romanian market. Roby cited a recent scandal in which Milka chocolate bars made in Germany for export into Romania allegedly tasted different than the chocolate bars made in the same factory for the German market due to the use of cheaper ingredients.

Certain aspects of the reality that existed under Ceausescu’s communist party dictatorship, are still found in 2019.  “A hard-working person who makes an honest living is branded as a thief while a smart-alecky individual who lies, cheats, steals, misrepresents, and forces others to pay him/her bribes is idolized as a hero who beat the system.”

Workers are still expected to venerate the low-paying jobs and never complain when they work long hours as if they were in a labor camp. Foreign national companies are still paying skilled Romanian workers low wages and expect them to deliver stellar performance.

An article by Valentin Busuioc in Lumea Justitiei (World Justice) magazine described President Trump speech at the U.N. on September 24, 2019 as “explosive” and meant to “shut up all the propagandists from the #resist crowd in Romania who “agitate to destroy the national values in the name of globalism, no matter what the price.” Busuioc wrote that politicians in Romania should not allow themselves to be influenced by “the [globalist] dream of national traitors.”

Busuioc also touched on the political issue of the “growing industry of radical activists and non-governmental organizations that promote human trafficking. These groups encourage illegal migration and demand the erasure of national borders.” The social justice rhetoric has transformed innocent humans into pawns of the phony social justice politics of the American left. Romanians have become victims themselves to the forced economic migration quota under the guise of refugees planned by the United Nations and enforced by the EU leaders in Brussels.
https://m.luju.ro/trump-le-a-dat-moarte-rezistentilor-presedintele-sua-donald-trump-a-avut-un-discurs-fulminant-la-onu-care-sa-le-fie-lectie-vanzatorilor-romaniei-daca-vrei-libertate-fii-mandru-de-tara-ta-daca-vrei-democratie-pastreaza-ti-suveranitatea-daca-vrei-pace-iubes

Swayed by corrupt politicians whose motives they barely understand, low information Romanian voters, not unlike some of our American voters, continue to turn at the polls to elect those who will eventually dissolve their borders and their own country for which their ancestors fought so hard to preserve.

Which Retailer Will Bite the Dust Next?

Another retailer bit the dust and filed for bankruptcy, Forever21. It’s not that people don’t have the money for cheap and disposable clothes with each season and don’t spend, we are a consumerist society and the economy is booming, with the lowest unemployment rate possible, 3.7 percent in August 2019.

But people are spending money more wisely and often from their computer keyboards and the comfort of their own homes, not having to spend precious time, wear and tear on cars, gasoline, or braving public transportation to shop.

Some even find great bargains in thrift stores, estate sales, and garage sales. Amazon is thriving thanks to low delivery costs provided among others, by the USPS. If such delivery costs should increase, then the online shopping habits of U.S. consumers may change away from Amazon.

People don’t want to take the time to go shopping in a mall anymore, or in grocery stores, as home deliveries for food are relatively cheap. Time can be spent on other activities because Americans are well off compared to most other nations and can afford to pay someone else to shop for their food. Few others in the world have that luxury; they also spend much more of their disposable incomes for food. Americans spend less than 15 percent of their after-tax earnings for groceries.

Fighting crowds and long lines for the cashier at the mall is a dauting proposition that most Americans have learned to dread and avoid. In large urban areas the malls have become the hang out place for foreign youth and sometimes their parents who congregate for their communities’ latest news and gossip as they did in the places they came from.

Americans have so many options that they have no idea how other people in the world live or shop. They don’t understand lines unless it’s lines to buy a concert ticket, a football ticket, Black Friday sales, or to get into a much-desired venue. Lining up for food or necessities is an alien concept to most Americans unless they are naturalized Americans like me who grew up under the communist boot and stood in lines every day in order to find food and other necessities to survive.

Who will be the last retailer standing when the war for the American pocketbook between them and online giants like Amazon intensifies?

Amazon will be one major winner, as it has already put out of business many small and large retailers which have not adapted well or fast enough to the Internet age.

Large retailers like Walmart are trying to keep up with Amazon but many of its customers are left out of online commerce as they do not have Internet access.

Costco’s e-commerce is thriving, having experienced “an increase of 20 percent year-over-year during the company’s second quarter 2019. Growth was seen in orders, profits and other metrics, in addition to digital sales.” People bought more “groceries, consumer electronics, hardware, health and beauty aids, tire and automotive, toys, and seasonal apparel.”

Many customers boycotted retailers like Target who made it their mission to force female customers and their children to use the same bathrooms with perverts of the opposite sex. That drove away many customers who did not feel safe in their stores. Some have not returned.

Boycotts of the Christian fast food chain, Chick-fil-a, have backfired, patronage of its restaurants has increased, and the fast food chain is expanding nationally and internationally.

There will be older Americans who would still want to try on clothing and feel the fabric before they buy. For them, ordering online is a technological inconvenience. They prefer to deal with a human being, but those human beings are scarcer in large department stores as they have cut back staff to the bare minimum.

Inventories and choice are down in all department stores. The associates who are available, hail from a foreign country where the concept of customer service does not exist, so customers leave the department store disgusted and disappointed with service. Even Nordstrom, long renowned for its customer service, has come down a few notches.

Higher end clothing and luxury items will always be available but most stores that will be in competition with Amazon will stock up essentials. Everybody needs household items, cleaning supplies, sheets, towels, and basics. In the makeup department, women will still prefer to try on things before they buy the right colors.

Many think that Walmart will probably survive because one cannot yet buy enough good groceries on Amazon. Perhaps if they refine their choices. But Walmart and Target are still cheaper for most consumers.

Eileen Johnson, who worked in the beauty industry, strongly believes that “cosmetics is succeeding online. The department stores now poach their in-store business by offering better cosmetics deals and gifts online. People come to the counter, try items, take pictures of what they want, and then order online. What is currently thriving and what will be the future are Sephora and Ulta. These are unique experiences that don’t require employee intervention. The downside is that no one is knowledgeable anymore on products, but the millennials and younger generations use YouTube and cosmetic blogs to get their info anyway.”

The old boutiques and seamstress style shops might make a comeback for the very affluent. Perhaps the more enterprising and talented among us will dust off their sewing machines and start making their own clothes again. With such a possibility, fabrics, sewing patterns and essentials would make a comeback as they were quite common in the 1980s America. Some small online retailers are already offering services where they can measure their customers for the proper-fitting shirts and blue jeans.

On the other hand, if we develop into the one-party state that we are slated to become, when equal pay will kick in, only the approved attire with limited choices and colors will be sold. With equal wages, few will afford nice things, just the elites in power. The rest will only need one dress, trousers, a few shirts, a couple of uniforms, one pair of shoes or sandals, and one pair of boots, no purse or makeup and other frillies.

In communist regimes like China, people who ran afoul of the “behavioral modification” program called social scoring of the Communist Party, have already been prevented from flying. An embarrassing ring tone warns others of the presence among them of blacklisted Chinese consumers who are “bad” and “untrustworthy” as defined by the chairman of the Communist Party. They are on an undesirables list of 13 million Chinese consumers so far. https://tinyurl.com/y26g6g5m)

In a totalitarian, central government-run economy, most income will be spent for taxes, survival basics such as rent, utilities, food, bikes, and monthly fares for bus/train. There will be no disposable income for extras like entertainment, vacations, and luxury goods as the economic police would not encourage such bourgeois accumulation of goods.

Excerpts from the Voice for Private Physicians, AAPS News*

Vaccines. Adults who refuse vaccinations in hospitals, may still be forced to be vaccinated if they signed an agreement to consent to biogenics or biologics. Since vaccines are biologics, if a patient wishes to opt out, he/she must specifically state so on a consent form – no biologics or biogenics. (https://tinyurl.com/y23lekho)

Brain Death. A perfusion system called BrainEx enabled researchers to restore certain structural and metabolic functions four hours after pigs were slaughtered and their brains removed from their skulls. This contradicts previous belief that brain cells die when deprived of oxygen for just a few minutes. This new discovery might make some patients candidates for brain resuscitation efforts and thus may open a potential conflict between potential donors and recipients of live organs. (Nature 4/18/19)

A procedure used by some U.S. and Taiwan organ recovery team about s involves the insertion of a thoracic aorta occlusion balloon which prevents perfusion of the brain when using extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, thus raising the question about a physician complicity in a patient’s death. (Younger S, Hyun I, Nature 4/18/19)

Social Credit Score System in China. This behavioral modification or “morality restoration” in China has not yet been fully implemented but has already been exported to Venezuela. An embarrassing ring tone warns others of the presence of 13 million already blacklisted Chinese in their midst who are “bad” and “untrustworthy” as defined by the Communist Party Chief. (https://tinyurl.com/y26g6g5m)

Monitoring of Mental Health by the Big Tech Giants. “The Trump administration is reportedly considering a proposal to use Google, Amazon Echo, and Apple Watch to collect data on users who exhibit characteristics of mental illness that could lead to violent behavior.  This is part of the initiative to create a Health Advanced Research Project Agency (HARPA).” Privacy will be safeguarded, and profiling avoided. (http://tinyurl.com/y4yz6gvp)

Michelle Malkin wrote about Google data mining our school children through Google email and Chrome when students access their homework, schedules, and classroom discussions. The E-Hallpass app even monitors them how much time they spend in the bathroom. Students are rated on how they “cooperate and share ideas and materials in socially acceptable ways.” And who defines what is socially acceptable? Malkin believes we should de-platform Google and other data-mining raiders.

Scandinavian Socialist Role Model for Democrats. Political scientist Daniel Schatz, a Swede by birth, explains to Socialist Democrats like Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and her guru Bernie Sanders that Nordic countries, with a population size of metropolitan New York City and not much diversity, follow social norms based on a strong work ethic, social trust, and individual responsibility. “Their success preceded the social welfare state. Sweden tax burden peaked at 52.3% in 1990 and had to be rolled back. Public monopolies had to be replaced.” (Commentary, Jul/Aug 2019, https://tinyurl.com/yyqu43y4)



*NOTE: These topics and more can be found in the AAPS News, The Voice for Private Physicians, Vol. 75, no. 9, September 2019)