It is not enough that Romania's politicians are smug, incompetent, and generally reprehensible, but their pathetic lack of self-awareness also feeds a seemingly overpowering impulse for outrageous narcissism. It's as if they were saying, "Step aside, Trump, let us show you how it's done." The phenomenon can be summed up in the wisdom of an old Romanian proverb, 'Prostul nu e prost destul, daca nu e si fudul' . It basically means, "a fool is not enough a fool, if he's not a blowhard too." Which brings me to the matter at hand. I've never directly addressed Romania's plagiarism scandals. In part, maybe, because if that was the worst thing our politicians were doing to this country, I wouldn't have other things to write about. But also because I always saw it as symptomatic of a more deeply rooted cultural issue. For added context, for non-Romanian readers, think of the Asian parents stereotype. From an early age kids are ...