Romania has refused a bullet but the west is still in danger Opinion star-news.press/wp

Romanians looked dangerously closer to the vote of their post-communist successes. In choosing a nicuşorn day through George Simion in his presidential choice, Romania may have decided not to burn to the house, but only barely. That almost half of the Romanians supported a populist event that is worth the liability of the Romanian European Union, and NATO is the main crack in the European Democratic Wall.

The irony is suffocated: while the Romanian people eventually brought the right choice, the United States leadership – the very country that built and led the post-war liberal world order – calmly rooted for the other side. From Hungary Viktor Orbán to Vladimir Putin to the autocratic rulers of Petrostat in the Gulf, the President Donald Trump affections lie clearly with strong and ideologues, not democrats or transatlantic institutions. It is difficult to overestimate what is a turnaround for America – a one-time anchor of the free world.

For years, the signs of warning: Orbán’s consolidation of power in Hungary, recipe Tayyip Erdogan Choking of Turkish democracy, and repeat the popularity of Putin in Russia. In Western Europe, the extremely right continues to increase from AFD in the German national gathering in France for the Reform of Great Britain, which Brexit left anger. Meanwhile, in the United States, despite confronting convicted offenses in Trump – they have just lost the houses of Congress and the presidential folk voice for the first time in two decades. It should all be alert anyone who cares for the truth, norms or basic democratic values.

Defensors of liberal democracies look lost. They know that dark tides grow, but rarely ask why. They condemn the voters for shacking towards the right side, but they rarely examine them as they may have contributed. It is not enough to beat Simune world in the ballot. We need to figure out why they almost won – and make sure it doesn’t happen again.

For one, liberalism himself is associated with the cultural orthodoxic that many ordinary people do not recognize anymore as their own. What was once tolerance and inclusion politics is now seen – is often right – as obsessed with identity, hypersensitive to a misdemeanor and incapable of self-criticism. Singeability has turned into their replacement of religion for a progressive elite. And that is the guidance of people. Constant focus on gender identity, deleting distinction in the inventory name, rigid application of new social codes – everything alienated work people and performed the term “liberal” toxic in many parts of the world.

Many who vote for right-wing populists live in real difficulties. What leads us to another point: corruption. In too many democracies, Romania is very much among them – liberalism engaged in corruption tolerated or even encouraged those in power. People feel slight. Western standards and the rule of law have been promised, but instead found the elites are enriched as they pretend to take care of the values. When citizens said that liberal democracy rewards the correctness, but see the judiciary that bends power and politicians who will unshake unpunished, why would he defend him?

The economic model that filed a liberal order from the end of the Cold War also did not fail too many people. The past 40 years of globalization were produced by huge growth – but the gains are unequally distributed. While the cities of the awakened and class of global experts appeared great segments of the population. The salaries did not lift. A job security value. Inequality exploded. In Eastern Europe, the difference is even the strongest: the promise to catch up in the West, there are some, but many remain in poverty brushing. When liberal democracy appears to mean unchecked capitalism and chronic unjustness, the appeal is fading.

Therefore, economic nationalism does not leave. It is not a phase of the passage or wonders of the trumpet. It is a scream protest against the activities that are extraordinary, the industries are hunched, and the entire communities are sacrificed on the altar of efficiency. People never would really ask whether they agreed to the global offer of cheaper goods in exchange for deindustrialization, insecurity in the labor market and local control. Yes, the system has produced the iPhone and falling prices. But she also brought misery into millions. Political background is not irrational.

Immigration also plays a role. For years, the main liberal parties insisted that all cultures are equal and that the identity of liquid. But most people don’t believe that. They prices their national culture and want to preserve them. They do not want them to be told that the preferring its own culture is racist. They refuse to the idea that the boundaries are immoral or their societies need to absorb unlimited contributions with large different traditions and values.

These are not worries from the edge. They are the main reason why liberal democracy is under siege. If her defenders are not adjusted, they will lose, not because alternatives are better – not – but because too many people concluded that the system does not work for them and that his leaders do not refuse to listen.

Romanian narrow escape should be studied and learned. The country almost surrendered to a man who would jeopardize everything he built from communism: his integration into Europe, his place in the Democratic World and his fragile political maturity. And Romania is not an isolated case. If even the American government fogs for those who would tireless the liberal order, then that order is in existential danger.

The way forward is not leaving liberalism, but to save him – from his worst surplus, his blind places and his elites tons-deaf elites. We need to separate a liberal democracy from the ideological baggage that surrounds it now. We have to champion of free speech, not cancel culture. We need to accept fair markets, not those. We need to protect the boundaries as they take care of Migrants Humano. We must celebrate national cultures without falling in chauvinism.

Most, we need to renew the faith in the idea that democracy can provide freedom, justice and dignity for ordinary people. That idea is still worth fighting. But if we continue to ignore what they led people towards Simi and others like him, we may not be so lucky next time.

Mihai Developed Ungureanu is a former Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania, led by the external inform the country, and the professor is history at the University of Bucharest. Day Perry was the first post-communist AP correspondent in Romania, and later led by the Agency in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Caribbean; The author is two books and publishes “asks questions later” danperry.substack.com.

Attitudes expressed in this article are their own writers.