Hello from Hungary!
I'm here with my family for another few weeks before heading back for the start of the fall semester. Today's post hits harder than others (and many of these letters hit plenty hard).
My wife and her family are Hungarian. She and I lived here from 2004-2010. She earned her master's at Central European University, the…
I'm here with my family for another few weeks before heading back for the start of the fall semester. Today's post hits harder than others (and many of these letters hit plenty hard).
My wife and her family are Hungarian. She and I lived here from 2004-2010. She earned her master's at Central European University, the institution Orban later forced out of Hungary by passing a law that targeted the University because its founder is George Soros - a powerful critic of Orban. So now, if my wife wants to visit her alma mater, a school that was founded in the city of her birth, she has to cross the border to Vienna where the school relocated.
Shortly after my wife graduated from CEU, I got a job at the school as a lecturer. I was teaching composition and professional communication to a multinational group of students. It was a wonderful part of my early career as an academic. I too was sorry to see the school leave Budapest, but we understood. Shortly after having our first child in 2010, our family decided to leave Hungary. The far-right was holding regular marches. Antisemitic and anti-Roma rhetoric was becoming commonplace. Members of Parliament displayed "Greater Hungary" stickers on their cars - stickers that reject the borders created by the Treaty of Trianon. Those stickers were particularly hard to stomach for those of my in-laws who are Jewish; the rejection of the present-day borders was a major motivation for Hungary's alliance with Nazi Germany.
And that's an important part of how Orban came to power. He courted the hard-right. They formed a political alliance that put him in the PM's seat. He has since put some distance between those radicals and his own party, but he couldn't have won those early elections without their help. He's cleaned up that part of his image a bit since, but our friends and family all remember how low he sank to rise this high.
We visit those friends and family every year. The country is still beautiful. Budapest is looking a bit rough around the edges this year, but people here say that's mostly because the city elected a mayor from an opposition party in 2019. People tell me the flow of funding for city projects has slowed since then. I can't confirm that, but it is certainly the belief on the street. The most commonly heard refrain is that if you want to succeed in Hungary, you need to be seen as Orban's political ally. Budapest's mayor is clearly not one.
There is some optimistic reporting about that mayor and the chance of a diverse coalition of opposition parties presenting a real challenge to Orban in 2022 (a right-left coalition similar to the one that defeated Benjamin Netanyahu this year). But the people I speak to are less optimistic than the reporting. Orban's control of the media is the first thing people bring up. He has provided a tremendous megaphone to rhetorically savvy pundits. Every day there's everything from foul-mouthed blowhards to professionally pressed-and-dressed analysts on the TV and radio, all of them presenting a one-sided view.
So, I guess I shouldn't be surprised to learn that Tucker Carlson was invited to speak and the Hungarian equivalent of CPAC. If there is one thing the Hungarians learned from the US, it is how to present a counter-narrative that is loose with facts but polished enough to look like news.
If I could offer one hopeful shred of an idea for the US, it would be this: Hungary doesn't have much experience when it comes to preventing power from pooling into the hands of the few. There simply was no democratic bureaucracy in place in 1989 when the Soviet-back government left power. And Orban was there in '89 to learn and understand the workings of Hungary's fledgling democracy. He didn't just know about the levers of power, he put many of them in place. That's not the case for the US. We have the means to stop this slide we are on, but we have to protect them.
Thank you for helping me understand that, Prof. Richardson.
Good morning, Hogan, and thank you for your story. Good to see Hungary through the eyes of a family with that ancestry in its family perspective. My own niece lived in Hungary before pandemic. I just reveled in her stories of her time spent in the country that my own grandmother emigrated from.
In contrast, the stories of whims and winds of politics imposing an oppressing fascist will on the people and culture and traditions is disconcerting to say the least. For Tucker Carlson to be there on the dime of and representing the reprehensible obscenely wealthy white conservative movement through organizations such as the Heritage Foundation is disgusting. Their moral compass is trashed. And you on spot on, Hogan, in your observation of what I consider naïveté on Orban’s part. Being an apparent hero in the eyes of this movement in the United States to trash democracy and keep it in name only is boastful and plays to the ego of treason and Carlson is there as the mouthpiece of that ego. Fools. They suffer amnesia about the soul of our country, its people with a thousand ancestries and little interest really in a fading white men only club. A lot of color and culture and gender is no longer there in servitude of politics and greed. We have left the building and are currently remodeling a few broken structures of our own. Let’s remember our light sabers!
It's time, long past time for those who haven't read it, for us all to read or re-read George Orwell's book from 1950, which is entitled "1984." Also read, the 1936 book by Sinclair Lewis called "It Can't Happen Here."
Perhaps a bit too darkly expressed. But there are those moments that do seem to feel like seismic pre shocks. This is why I am so grateful for HCR & LFAA & this community.
Hogan, thank you so much for your first-hand understanding of Hungarian politics. I also appreciate your optimistic opinion on this country's current predicament.
This letter is chilling. It brought back memories of visiting Hungary and its iconic Parliament Building and thinking that a country that was so outwardly attractive was actually a budding autocratic dictatorship. Reading here that its aims are similar to many of our conservative organizations, like the Heritage Foundation, the Federalist Society, FreedomWorks, etc., many of which funded the Maricopa County elections "audit", and are well represented among the Supreme Court (Alito, Thomas, and Trump's THREE appointees), is the most chilling information we've seen since learning about Heather.
I recall that while taking interior design classes, we had a classmate from Hungary, a very attractive physician. She said that in order to practice medicine here, she'd have to go back to school for years, and wasn't willing to do that, so she wanted to be a designer. She went on to, very pleasantly, recount her experiences in Hungary, which led to a long rant about Jews. In addition to being in a class full of strangers, I was really taken back. She had no idea that, not only were many of the students Jewish, but certainly many who were not Jews were offended by her casual comments that reeked of anti-semitism. My guess is that Hungary must have plenty of anti-semites, in spite of their first hand experience with Hitler during WW II.
Putting this letter together with my small experience with one Hungarian and then learning about her restrictive government, and add in the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society, etc., who are actively attempting to undermine the 2020 election and who also represent many members of our Supreme Court, is the scariest thing I've learned about Trumpism. I assumed that Putin was Trump's financier, but it seems that he was probably not alone, and had plenty of help from home-grown wealth. Also helps to explain the many racist, anti-semitic rioters at the insurrection and elsewhere in the country.
I've been very aware of that all my life. I was born during WW II and, while I am not Jewish, I have always been acutely aware of prejudice against Jews. It's appalling, and I've never been able to understand it. To see it persist today is absolutely criminal.
...along with being at the root of evil. We also must remember that Jews are not the sole victims of fascism, communism, white supremacy, religious fanaticism, bigotry, greed, immorality and Lies, Lies, Lies.
You're correct, Fern. The bigotry and tribalism is at the root of our problems today, fanned by the uber-rich and greed for power - divide and conquer.
Hogan, thank you for this first hand account and helping us understand a little more of the story, and for the links to further information, much appreciated.
Thank you so much for writing. That is my question: how do Hungarians feel about this transition? It is good to hear your thoughts about how the U.S. could fend of this type of power grab. I hope it's true. Causing the loss of confidence in elections is a very smart move by conservatives.
I respect your take on it, Kim, but you know what? I’ve always thought it’s the dang stupidest move they could have chosen. There might be people that pretend they have lost confidence, but the election we just had was strong, secure, and safe. It just wasn’t what one man supported by treasonous wealth and white color wanted.
If we were to have an upcoming election supported by all the suppression and vote manipulation being legislated now at state levels, I’d say yes, my confidence is trashed. However, that has NOT happened.
Nor will it when the Constitution of We the People holds.
And I firmly do not believe that the former and his idolaters will ever live to see the day that they will rewrite the Constitution as Orban did to their greedy, immoral, inept pleasure.
Oh, I so hope you’re right, Christine. I have been avoiding the political news for the past few weeks—at least not obsessively taking in every bit of commentary as I usually do —because it was getting me way too down. And that’s a danger. We can become so overwhelmed by the idiocy and the heinous anti-democratic behavior that we become complacent. That was me last week. Then this letter from HRC, who is not an alarmist. Now, I’m alarmed. Time to get going again.
Morning MaryB! I find you to be fierce! Do one thing, at least one, every day that supports the cause to rely on our democracy to foil the traitors and their gross stupidity. Write a letter, call a legislator, opine a retort to something you don’t agree with in the newspaper, be overwhelmed with love for our planet and it’s people. We are all in this together. There is enough to go around.
TY, Christine--as a fellow Floridian, I imagine you face the same daily stupifying news a I. I've written, emailed, demonstrated, etc. here until I'm blue in the face (no pun intended). After 20 yrs of doing this w/the FL legislature and regional boards (i.e., St. John's Water District, Alachua County School Board) w/little to no apparent results and watching my state legislature block the People's will as expressed in constitutional amendments, I'm just tired. I find my State & US senators & Reps totally aligned (read "bought") w/business, gun, and racist interests. All I find myself able to do these days is pray, and support those who have the energy and tools to continue the fight for freedom & democracy. I thank you for your brave and energetic response, and I have your back.
I become overwhelmed sometimes, too, but recover and try to spread the word, donate, support candidates, and try to keep the ball rolling. To be sure, everyone here will vote, and support democracy. We have the numbers.
I wonder if what Kim intended is along these lines - that while continuing to challenge the validity of the election with audits and screaming about the steal may not, at this point, persuade any more people that fraud is rampant, it will cement it in the minds of those who initially distrusted the results, and keep the fire of their anger and resentment burning til 2022.
I agree that those calling the shots are shrewd, but still don't see it influencing anyone but their base. Lies and manipulation are all that they have - not policy, just hatred.
A cautionary tale, indeed. I fear for our democracy, but don't know how to help it survive and thrive... or where in the world I can go if it all blows up and goes to hell
Thank you for that nugget of inspiration at the end of your post. I’m going to try and stay positive , informed and engaged in the hope that Americans understand that Freedom is what we all stand to lose.Frightening.So sorry it happened to you’re family.Shalom.
Hello from Hungary!
I'm here with my family for another few weeks before heading back for the start of the fall semester. Today's post hits harder than others (and many of these letters hit plenty hard).
My wife and her family are Hungarian. She and I lived here from 2004-2010. She earned her master's at Central European University, the institution Orban later forced out of Hungary by passing a law that targeted the University because its founder is George Soros - a powerful critic of Orban. So now, if my wife wants to visit her alma mater, a school that was founded in the city of her birth, she has to cross the border to Vienna where the school relocated.
Shortly after my wife graduated from CEU, I got a job at the school as a lecturer. I was teaching composition and professional communication to a multinational group of students. It was a wonderful part of my early career as an academic. I too was sorry to see the school leave Budapest, but we understood. Shortly after having our first child in 2010, our family decided to leave Hungary. The far-right was holding regular marches. Antisemitic and anti-Roma rhetoric was becoming commonplace. Members of Parliament displayed "Greater Hungary" stickers on their cars - stickers that reject the borders created by the Treaty of Trianon. Those stickers were particularly hard to stomach for those of my in-laws who are Jewish; the rejection of the present-day borders was a major motivation for Hungary's alliance with Nazi Germany.
And that's an important part of how Orban came to power. He courted the hard-right. They formed a political alliance that put him in the PM's seat. He has since put some distance between those radicals and his own party, but he couldn't have won those early elections without their help. He's cleaned up that part of his image a bit since, but our friends and family all remember how low he sank to rise this high.
We visit those friends and family every year. The country is still beautiful. Budapest is looking a bit rough around the edges this year, but people here say that's mostly because the city elected a mayor from an opposition party in 2019. People tell me the flow of funding for city projects has slowed since then. I can't confirm that, but it is certainly the belief on the street. The most commonly heard refrain is that if you want to succeed in Hungary, you need to be seen as Orban's political ally. Budapest's mayor is clearly not one.
There is some optimistic reporting about that mayor and the chance of a diverse coalition of opposition parties presenting a real challenge to Orban in 2022 (a right-left coalition similar to the one that defeated Benjamin Netanyahu this year). But the people I speak to are less optimistic than the reporting. Orban's control of the media is the first thing people bring up. He has provided a tremendous megaphone to rhetorically savvy pundits. Every day there's everything from foul-mouthed blowhards to professionally pressed-and-dressed analysts on the TV and radio, all of them presenting a one-sided view.
So, I guess I shouldn't be surprised to learn that Tucker Carlson was invited to speak and the Hungarian equivalent of CPAC. If there is one thing the Hungarians learned from the US, it is how to present a counter-narrative that is loose with facts but polished enough to look like news.
If I could offer one hopeful shred of an idea for the US, it would be this: Hungary doesn't have much experience when it comes to preventing power from pooling into the hands of the few. There simply was no democratic bureaucracy in place in 1989 when the Soviet-back government left power. And Orban was there in '89 to learn and understand the workings of Hungary's fledgling democracy. He didn't just know about the levers of power, he put many of them in place. That's not the case for the US. We have the means to stop this slide we are on, but we have to protect them.
Thank you for helping me understand that, Prof. Richardson.
References:
https://www.cairn.info/revue-francaise-d-administration-publique-2014-3-page-663.htm
https://hungarytoday.hu/govt-to-modify-lex-ceu-law/
https://time.com/5907735/budapest-hungary-mayor/
Good morning, Hogan, and thank you for your story. Good to see Hungary through the eyes of a family with that ancestry in its family perspective. My own niece lived in Hungary before pandemic. I just reveled in her stories of her time spent in the country that my own grandmother emigrated from.
In contrast, the stories of whims and winds of politics imposing an oppressing fascist will on the people and culture and traditions is disconcerting to say the least. For Tucker Carlson to be there on the dime of and representing the reprehensible obscenely wealthy white conservative movement through organizations such as the Heritage Foundation is disgusting. Their moral compass is trashed. And you on spot on, Hogan, in your observation of what I consider naïveté on Orban’s part. Being an apparent hero in the eyes of this movement in the United States to trash democracy and keep it in name only is boastful and plays to the ego of treason and Carlson is there as the mouthpiece of that ego. Fools. They suffer amnesia about the soul of our country, its people with a thousand ancestries and little interest really in a fading white men only club. A lot of color and culture and gender is no longer there in servitude of politics and greed. We have left the building and are currently remodeling a few broken structures of our own. Let’s remember our light sabers!
Thank you for sharing your story. Seems to me that fascism is our social corona virus and the variants are deadly.
It's time, long past time for those who haven't read it, for us all to read or re-read George Orwell's book from 1950, which is entitled "1984." Also read, the 1936 book by Sinclair Lewis called "It Can't Happen Here."
And “The Plot Against America” - Phyllip Roth
Yes.
Sadly, your meraphor is right on.
Perhaps a bit too darkly expressed. But there are those moments that do seem to feel like seismic pre shocks. This is why I am so grateful for HCR & LFAA & this community.
Hogan, thank you so much for your first-hand understanding of Hungarian politics. I also appreciate your optimistic opinion on this country's current predicament.
This letter is chilling. It brought back memories of visiting Hungary and its iconic Parliament Building and thinking that a country that was so outwardly attractive was actually a budding autocratic dictatorship. Reading here that its aims are similar to many of our conservative organizations, like the Heritage Foundation, the Federalist Society, FreedomWorks, etc., many of which funded the Maricopa County elections "audit", and are well represented among the Supreme Court (Alito, Thomas, and Trump's THREE appointees), is the most chilling information we've seen since learning about Heather.
I recall that while taking interior design classes, we had a classmate from Hungary, a very attractive physician. She said that in order to practice medicine here, she'd have to go back to school for years, and wasn't willing to do that, so she wanted to be a designer. She went on to, very pleasantly, recount her experiences in Hungary, which led to a long rant about Jews. In addition to being in a class full of strangers, I was really taken back. She had no idea that, not only were many of the students Jewish, but certainly many who were not Jews were offended by her casual comments that reeked of anti-semitism. My guess is that Hungary must have plenty of anti-semites, in spite of their first hand experience with Hitler during WW II.
Putting this letter together with my small experience with one Hungarian and then learning about her restrictive government, and add in the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society, etc., who are actively attempting to undermine the 2020 election and who also represent many members of our Supreme Court, is the scariest thing I've learned about Trumpism. I assumed that Putin was Trump's financier, but it seems that he was probably not alone, and had plenty of help from home-grown wealth. Also helps to explain the many racist, anti-semitic rioters at the insurrection and elsewhere in the country.
We Jews are blamed for everything.
I've been very aware of that all my life. I was born during WW II and, while I am not Jewish, I have always been acutely aware of prejudice against Jews. It's appalling, and I've never been able to understand it. To see it persist today is absolutely criminal.
...along with being at the root of evil. We also must remember that Jews are not the sole victims of fascism, communism, white supremacy, religious fanaticism, bigotry, greed, immorality and Lies, Lies, Lies.
You're correct, Fern. The bigotry and tribalism is at the root of our problems today, fanned by the uber-rich and greed for power - divide and conquer.
And why our government turned a blind eye to the hate.
Hogan, thank you for this first hand account and helping us understand a little more of the story, and for the links to further information, much appreciated.
Thank you so much for writing. That is my question: how do Hungarians feel about this transition? It is good to hear your thoughts about how the U.S. could fend of this type of power grab. I hope it's true. Causing the loss of confidence in elections is a very smart move by conservatives.
I respect your take on it, Kim, but you know what? I’ve always thought it’s the dang stupidest move they could have chosen. There might be people that pretend they have lost confidence, but the election we just had was strong, secure, and safe. It just wasn’t what one man supported by treasonous wealth and white color wanted.
If we were to have an upcoming election supported by all the suppression and vote manipulation being legislated now at state levels, I’d say yes, my confidence is trashed. However, that has NOT happened.
Nor will it when the Constitution of We the People holds.
And I firmly do not believe that the former and his idolaters will ever live to see the day that they will rewrite the Constitution as Orban did to their greedy, immoral, inept pleasure.
Oh, I so hope you’re right, Christine. I have been avoiding the political news for the past few weeks—at least not obsessively taking in every bit of commentary as I usually do —because it was getting me way too down. And that’s a danger. We can become so overwhelmed by the idiocy and the heinous anti-democratic behavior that we become complacent. That was me last week. Then this letter from HRC, who is not an alarmist. Now, I’m alarmed. Time to get going again.
Morning MaryB! I find you to be fierce! Do one thing, at least one, every day that supports the cause to rely on our democracy to foil the traitors and their gross stupidity. Write a letter, call a legislator, opine a retort to something you don’t agree with in the newspaper, be overwhelmed with love for our planet and it’s people. We are all in this together. There is enough to go around.
Blessings and Energy!
TY, Christine--as a fellow Floridian, I imagine you face the same daily stupifying news a I. I've written, emailed, demonstrated, etc. here until I'm blue in the face (no pun intended). After 20 yrs of doing this w/the FL legislature and regional boards (i.e., St. John's Water District, Alachua County School Board) w/little to no apparent results and watching my state legislature block the People's will as expressed in constitutional amendments, I'm just tired. I find my State & US senators & Reps totally aligned (read "bought") w/business, gun, and racist interests. All I find myself able to do these days is pray, and support those who have the energy and tools to continue the fight for freedom & democracy. I thank you for your brave and energetic response, and I have your back.
Thank you, Brenda, We have the wind, too, at our backs.
There is an HCR Substacker community here to support each other in activism. Floridians included! For more info, email
heathersherd@gmail.com
I love being called fierce. I’ll keep it up. I find at 80, I’m twice as passionate as I was in my 40s.
Twice 40 = passion beauty intelligence wisdom and courage!
HCR, of course
I become overwhelmed sometimes, too, but recover and try to spread the word, donate, support candidates, and try to keep the ball rolling. To be sure, everyone here will vote, and support democracy. We have the numbers.
There is an HCR Substacker community here to support each other in activism. For more info, email
heathersherd@gmail.com
I wonder if what Kim intended is along these lines - that while continuing to challenge the validity of the election with audits and screaming about the steal may not, at this point, persuade any more people that fraud is rampant, it will cement it in the minds of those who initially distrusted the results, and keep the fire of their anger and resentment burning til 2022.
Yes. I respect what Kim said. It’s a big “pot of people”. I keep visualizing the much bigger pot that we are all in.
Thank You Christine.
I agree that those calling the shots are shrewd, but still don't see it influencing anyone but their base. Lies and manipulation are all that they have - not policy, just hatred.
Thank you, Hogan. I appreciate hearing a new -- new to me, anyway -- perspective, and your letter teaches me things about which I was clueless.
Thank you for your inside story.
Thanks so much for a report from Hungary. The world is too big to follow and also too small not to.
Hogan, thank you for your informative reply! All the best to you and your family.
A cautionary tale, indeed. I fear for our democracy, but don't know how to help it survive and thrive... or where in the world I can go if it all blows up and goes to hell
Thank you very much for this informative post.
And for the essential difference you pointed out at the end. May we seize it!
Thank you for that nugget of inspiration at the end of your post. I’m going to try and stay positive , informed and engaged in the hope that Americans understand that Freedom is what we all stand to lose.Frightening.So sorry it happened to you’re family.Shalom.