Our Opinion/ Some history lessons hurt more than others

America in Denial

By Cindy Gomez
Editor

In 1989, as I was graduating from high school, Romanian dictator, Nicolae Ceauşescu, was tried by his people and executed. He wasn’t always despised by his people. In fact, the first half of his dictatorship, Ceauşescu enjoyed the praise of his people for his political prowess in foreign policy and his ability to coax Soviet troops out of Romania.

Ceauşescu should have seen the end of his reign coming but his hubris kept him from noticing. There were plenty of warnings that Ceauşescu could have heeded that would have kept in power. He could have responded to the hunger, unemployment, and overpopulation. Instead, he tried to fight the people’s suffering with public relations gimmicks. Rather than recognize the poverty of his people, Ceauşescu was frequently shown praising the high standard of living achieved under his rule while walking through lavishly supplied markets.

With the last election bringing in throngs of newly elected Republicans, we have seen a resurgence of conservative, nationalist values. But the cause of this conservative resurgence was not to offer solutions to our country’s policy issues, but rather to defend an ideology that President Obama and his administration threatened. As the first black president, Obama brought his values and his liberal agenda to the White House. Conservatives have been working hard to counter his influence ever since. And even though it is proving detrimental to our country’s interests to advance conservative ideology above common sense, we seem to be headed in that direction at top speed.

When are we going to face the facts? The conservative ideology and hands-off governing style of Republicans are what got us here in the first place. We can blame the current union crisis on it. We can blame our current financial collapse on it. We can blame the deregulation of business and financial institutions on it. We can blame our languishing educational system on it. We can blame low wages and out of control corporate greed on it. 

If we look at history we can also predict the types of outcomes we will have if we continue on this course. When women were given the right to end unwanted pregnancy through abortions in the landmark decision of Roe v. Wade, the Romanians were doing the opposite. In keeping with its new conservative and nationalist slant, Ceauşescu outlawed abortions. The outcomes for both countries were significant. Our leading economic experts now point to the Roe v. Wade decision as the single most influential component in reducing crime rates in America.

Yes, that’s right. Crime rates were reduced drastically because women had the right to terminate unwanted pregnancies. Delinquency rates dropped and incarceration rates dropped. And it wasn’t because of the Rudy Guilianis of the world with their new police practices; it wasn’t because of the large number of incarcerations or the new jails built. I would venture to guess that educational opportunities, employment, housing and more were all similarly affected by the number of unwanted pregnancies.

Meanwhile, in Romania—where they opted to go back to conservative values—the rate of unwanted pregnancies that were carried to term skyrocketed. Along with that dramatic rise in unwanted pregnancies came poverty, lack of education, unemployment, hunger, delinquency and higher crime rates. Ignoring the real needs of the people versus upholding ideology and window dressing finally caught up with Ceauşescu. In the end, the people hastily threw together a public trial before murdering Ceauşescu and his wife.

Flash forward to 2011. We have “personhood” bills popping up across the Midwest and gaining traction. We are trying to decriminalize the murder of abortion doctors, while at the same time reducing family planning funding. We also continue arming our youth with weapons and rhetoric instead of sex education; opting for the “head-in-the-sand” approach of abstinence and silence.  Should we be surprised when we end up with an outcome like Romania?

There are great lessons to be learned from Ceauşescu’s story for Americans. We are currently facing an economic and identity crisis that requires our serious attention. We cannot pretend the issues facing us are just public relations problems that can be fixed with ideologies like “We’re No. 1” and “the USA is the best country in the world!” We in America need to wake up and smell the civil unrest.

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