Megértés és alázat – Kurt Volker Magyarországról

2012.05.02. 09:12

A Wall Street Journal 2012. április 26-i számában Kurt Volker amerikai diplomata és egyetemi oktató cikkét olvashatjuk Magyarországról “Hungary Through the Mirror” címmel. A cikkben a szerző megértésre és alázatra buzdítja honfitársait, amikor a “magyar helyzetet” értelmezik, arról formálnak véleményt.

Az alábbiakban részleteket közlünk a cikkből:

The West should take a deep breath. Democracy is an experiment. It is evolutionary; it requires constant adjustment. It does not take only one form, and it does not move in a straight-line progression. Americans know that from our own experience right up to the present day.

Hungary also fits within that framework: trying to fix problems, making mistakes along the way, trying again. But that's the nature of democracy. "A more perfect union" means precisely that the union is never perfect.

A dose of humility is therefore in order. In America, we constantly argue over fundamental questions about democracy. Should our government be able to force people to buy insurance? Should government decide whether a gay marriage is in fact a marriage? Do women have the right to choose an abortion? Does it challenge U.S. checks and balances for a president to suggest that "unelected judges" should not overturn a law passed by an elected Congress?

All legitimate questions. None of this makes America less of a democracy—just the opposite. It makes us exactly what a democracy is—a messy, competitive, emotional, hardscrabble and evolving way of making sure the compact between society and government stays fresh.

Likewise, throughout Europe, one sees issues that affect democratic practice, as well as echoes of nationalist sentiment. For instance, both France and Italy recently expelled Roma to the East. Neither the U.S. or the EU protested. But equally, we don't worry much about democracy in either place.

Most European nations are wrestling with a similarly difficult list of constitutional questions. Can Europe solve its own budget and debt crisis? An Italian prime minister owned most of the country's television media. Should the EU or U.S. therefore have sanctioned Italy? Is it good democratic practice for the EU to replace the Greek and Italian governments without an election? In the U.K., social media users have been arrested for "hate speech." But is anyone seriously worried about free speech in the U.K.?

The answer to such questions inevitably revolves around matters of degree and context. Established democracies have all gone through evolution. We may disagree over big issues, but we are all firmly rooted. That is just the kind of sympathetic understanding with which we should also look at Hungary.

No one would suggest that all the new Hungarian reforms and laws are perfect or even sensible. Quite the contrary—there should and indeed are lively debates about them, and many have been amended.

Further change is still needed, on preserving the independence of the central bank and the judiciary, for example. But we should recognize that Hungary is like the rest of us: We are witnessing struggles within a democracy, not against it.

A cikk teljes terjedelemben itt érhető el:

 

 

 

Kurt Volker, Wall Street Journal, sajtószemle