How Communism Was Good For Romania

Notice the title is not, "Why Communism Was Good For Romania".

With that out of the way, let me explain 'how' communism did us a favour in Romania.

When a country is run around a massive lie (ie. Reality = people are starving. Official stance = "Everything is great!") and the lie is so blatant that any fool can see it, it doesn't take long for the Average Joe to reach two basic conclusions:

1. "The government lies to me"
2. "The government doesn't have my best interests at heart"

It's like cheating in a relationship. Once the trust is gone, it's gone, baby, gone.

Romania went through three successive generations where the core of understanding around governance and authority echoed these sentiments. (Granted, there are some nostaligcs who miss the guaranteed employment and yearly vacations, but, as with any toxic relationship, nostalgics only remember the good times.)

You might think that, post '89, this pervasive cynicism might have softened, but every government since has managed to further cement these fundamental deficiencies of politics. Therefore, we now have almost a century of experience to back up this dismissive stance toward government policy. Oh, we'll play along (mostly). But we'll never, in our minds, believe anything 'official' that says "here's the story as it happened" or, "this is for your own good."

So, when we start importing the PC newspeak from the West, or various anti-democratic laws disguised as security measures, I have a feeling (or at least, the hope) that it won't go over so well.

And for that, we have communism to thank.

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