McGuirk on Budapest Budapest was cool. It's hard to explain what I saw exactly. The thing that stuck with me was how hard hit it was by communism. I'm really starting to get an honest sense of how many people were pawns in communist expansion, and how much better capitalism is for the average person than communism. Communism is just like nazism, actually, in its ease to adoption. It provides an easy way out. Hitler made scapegoats of the Jews and anybody not fitting his masterrace criteria. For downtrodden people, this was easy to latch onto. It's not their fault anymore, they recover some dignity at the expense of someone they didn't like all that much anyway. Communism appeals to the same sort of feeling. If you're downtrodden, communism is the easy way out. 'Psst. Listen. If you come with us everybody'll get paid the same. That aristocrat down the street with his huge house, he'll make just the same as you.' The problem with Nazism was that not only was it inaccurate, but it turned out to be evil. The problem with communism is,not only is it designed to be easily warped (� la Animal Farm) but it functionally brings an economy to a standstill. If people are going to make the same amount of money, regardless of the effort they put in, they're going to put in the bare minimum. After communism fell in Hungary (that's where Budapest is, you ignorant Americans :P) there was a whole generation of people accustomed to, well, not working. Capitalism, supported specifically by a new attempt at democracy, doesn't deal with that well, so they got fired. Thus high unemployment. Thus a new generation of 'downtrodden' people. Guess what happened? The communists just won the last elections. Here we go again. This is extremely fascinating for me, more than any tourist site or memorial or hip bar or something, because I just can't insert myself into the mindset of someone who would look at public services that don't work (transport is laughable, and though we got around alright, my guess is that it took a long time for it to get to a semi-consistent basis), restaurant service that takes a minimum of a half-hour for just about anything, even just a coke or a coffee (except at McDonalds, it should be noted. God bless American Capitalism), and says 'Yes, I want more from the people who gave me this great system.' My only guess is that if you're poor and hungry, your first concern is immediate food, thus immediate money, and anyone who can promise you that, you vote for, regardless of the side-effects of that decision. Budapest was one of the most interesting places I've been to yet. This was originally in email form to Bethany, but she was nice enough to say that I could post it, as it sort of summed up my whole feeling on my Budapest trip. Thanks, Beth, and much love!