Machan's Musings - Europe Clings to Its Old Ways
by Tibor R. Machan
Valparaiso, Chile
I do not wear a sign around my neck saying “I am a champion of human liberty.” Yet I often run into other frequent travelers on the road who share my concerns about the lack of appreciation for freedom around the globe. As I have traveled on the trains in many European countries, I have found myself in conversation with fellow train riders who, in time, would lament, just as I do, the inadequate support so many throughout Europe, even among the newly liberated folks, lend to the ideal of a truly free society.
This time I had taken a bus trip from Santiago to Valparaiso just for the fun of it, to see a bit more of Chile than just its capital city. When we finally stopped for a bit of lunch at a very pleasant restaurant overlooking the ancient port, I sat across from another lone traveler, this time a Polish businessman who was similarly mixing professional and pleasurable activities on this trip. He represents a multinational company that trades in various energy products and services. He speaks excellent English, so conversation between us began to flow very easily. After all, I, too, hail from “behind the old iron curtain,” and had many questions for him, while his interest in America was insatiable.
We covered many topics, including the recent Polish elections in which the explicitly (classical) liberal party fared unusually well, so much so that my dinner mate was convinced that next time around they may make even more headway to lead Poland closer to a bona fide free society, especially one with a free market.
He confirmed to me something I had heard before, namely, that one great obstacle to progress toward freedom in Poland, as well as other former Soviet bloc countries, comes from former Soviet bloc bureaucrats and politicians. Having rechristened themselves so as to hide their true convictions, members of the deposed ruling class are doing whatever they can to sabotage any advances toward a free society.
Unfortunately, as new my Polish acquaintance pointed out, the bulk of Europe still embraces old time vices, even apart from collectivism. Too many are rediscovering the charms of ethnic pride, for example, thus giving support not to liberal political parties but to nationalist leaders, along with all the hoary economic nonsense with which such sentiments are usually coupled—protectionism, tariffs that repel foreign competition, and laws that serve as impediments to investment from abroad.
But even more than these obstacles, I was told that the worse thing that people trying to do business in Poland and elsewhere face is the widely entrenched tradition of layers and layers of bureaucracy creating so many needless rules that only the most vigilant will enter the market and seek to flourish in their midst. His stories could fill one of those horror files libertarians often create to list the innumerable useless regulations, ordinances, rules, edicts, and such that serve no other purposes than to keep the bureaucrats busy and impede the efforts of creative and productive people to achieve something of value for their customers or clients.
Into the middle of this, then, steps the clever organized criminal who has no compunction about using strong-arm tactics to overcome the bureaucratic hurdles and who will, for a price, help you do so as well. The temptation to get into bed with such dubious characters is enormous since, for what they charge, it pays to have the tedious rules circumvented. Sure, one is walking on eggshells getting into bed with these people, but often, legitimate entrepreneurs see no other way to stay afloat and get things done. The bribes, my new pal told me, are just the cost of doing business for most folks who are willing to take advantage of such “connections.”
No, this is not only happening in Poland, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary or some other country previously part of the Soviet bloc. It’s on the increase throughout Europe now because one result of this wonderful constructivist monster, the European Union, is the volumes of regulations placed before businesspeople preventing them from getting useful work done.
At one time, my Polish friend noted, it was possible to point to the United States of America, which at least promoted the idea of a free market system, and of reducing government regulations—say back in the Reagan era, which (although failing to do much about the heaps and heaps of rules) at least talked a good game in favor of free markets. But, he noted, these days America’s credibility as a leader of the free world is very wobbly, and at least when it comes to advancing the ideas of economic freedom, open competition, and the free flow of labor and capital, George W. Bush and his team are not the leaders to look to.
Of course, in the midst of these laments we both thanked our lucky stars for no longer living under the Soviet system, indeed, for the pleasure and advantages of being able to travel freely. So, with such progress having been made, we both concluded on an optimistic note, hoping that liberty will win out after all.
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