Tag: Hungary

Talking Family with Some Friends

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Today I went to visit some very good friends.  It was a pretty long trip but it was so good to spend time with people who speak my language.  We talked about many things.  We even talked about the political situation and I got some different points of view about the outlook for the mid-terms.  Apparently not everyone is as pessimistic as I am.  But the opinions on what’s wrong with the country were still very close to my viewpoint.

One thing that was brought up was the awareness by women in their thirties and forties that they’ve been tricked.  They’ve traded their most precious resource, their fertility, for ten or twenty years as corporate poster children.  The paradox is the women in their twenties will deny to the death that this is what is happening.  It’s only after the deal has been paid for that they understand what has happened.

But at the same time, it has to be acknowledged that our society has made the one salary middle class family a virtual impossibility.  And both millennial men and women have absorbed this as an unavoidable reality.  I countered that Hungary has begun the process of trying to provide a way out of this trap with tax incentives for couples that allows the wife and mother to stay at home with her kids in exchange for benefits that acknowledge the advantage to Hungarian society of providing new Hungarian citizens for the state.  I got some agreement that this would be highly desirable but there was also a lot of skepticism about any chance of it happening here.

And that’s true.  There’s no consensus among Americans that the stay-at-home mom is a necessity.  In fact, among young women, it’s exactly the opposite.  They’ve been proselytized to believe that only after they’ve achieved corporate success should they even think about getting married and starting a family.  The problem is no one wants to marry a thirty-five-year-old middle manager who makes more money than you and wants her husband to facilitate her remaining at the office to further her career after she has the one child, she thinks she has time (maybe) to produce.  So, we’re in a Catch-22 that neatly resists any fix.

So, I shrugged my shoulders and thought I should open a matrimonial agency and entice twenty something women to marry any men who are brave enough to try and raise families on one salary.  I’ll pitch it to these young women as a quixotic adventure that dooms them to poverty but provides the most enriched personal space in the known universe, the nuclear family.  And it’s true.  There is nothing more dynamic than a man and a woman struggling to provide a home and an upbringing for their own children.  What it requires is a man to spend his twenties saving up a stake to own a house and develop a career that he can use to sustain a family.

And it can be done.  I’ve seen it done.  Some military men have done exactly this.  And there are other career paths that can accommodate this goal.  And then he has to find a girl who’s interested.  But the real question is how many men of this type are left?  It may be a small number.

But this is what I was doing today.  And it was a stimulating discussion.  It’s good to get out and about when there are smart people to talk to.  I only wish there were ten thousand people like those I was talking to today.  If only those kinds of numbers existed.  I could see things getting done.  But when it’s handfuls it seems impossible to cause change.  Well, it was a good day.

Orban, Conservatism With a Heart and a Brain

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Here is an article that dissects the policies Orban has used to win a dominant share of the electorate in Hungary.  Our Republican politicians could do much worse than copying what he is doing.

“Mainly, though, Orbán was just too good to beat even under the best of scenarios. He has designed a unique political model. American and British conservatives have been flocking to Budapest to study it. It combines basic ideas of the political right with basic ideas of the political left.

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He has reduced social-policy spending (a conservative idea), but he pursues a strategically interventionist approach to the economy (usually associated with the left).

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So taxes and unemployment benefits are low – that’s the conservative aspect. But where it really matters for citizens, the state intervenes.
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Hungary is among the most investment-friendly countries in Europe. But only in sectors where the Hungarian economy cannot do what foreign investors can do. Hungarian companies can’t build cars. Germans can. But banks? The service industry? Hungarians can do the job just as well. And so the government makes it a priority to strengthen domestic entrepreneurs and innovative startups.
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Orbán’s argument is that GDP matters – but what matters more is how much of it remains in the country and ends up in households.

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Another crucial reason for Orbán’s dominance is that he has established a firm presence in the countryside, down to the last village. No party before Fidesz even tried to do this. The opposition is urban. Fidesz is rooted in rural Hungary, tapping a voter base that didn’t even exist before Orbán. In the past, many villagers simply would not vote at all. They support Orbán because he has made it a priority to minimise the wealth gap between the countryside and the big cities.”

Can you imagine if the stupid party (Republicans) were this smart?  We might even still have a country.

Orban wins 4th Term in Crushing Victory

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Leftists on both sides of the Atlantic have something else to be angry about tonight.

“Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban scored a crushing election victory to clinch a fourth consecutive term, overcoming criticism about democratic backsliding, his lukewarm support for war-ravaged Ukraine and close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Orban’s Fidesz party was on track to maintain its two-thirds parliament majority in a general election on Sunday, with more than four-fifths of the votes counted. That defied polls that had predicted a close race after opposition parties united to try to oust him as the European Union’s longest-serving leader.”

As usual the polls that said it was close were a lie.  Orban has struck a cord with nationalists and traditionalists around the world.  He’s been interviewed by Tucker Carlson and intelligently and fearlessly defends his “Hungary First” platform.

He has championed legislation that removes tax burdens from families that are willing to have three or more children and have the mother stay at home to rear them.  He also had legislation passed that bans the discussion of homosexuality with minors.  Naturally the EU despises him and constantly attack him and Hungary for refusing to kow-tow to the LGBTQ mafia.

This guy is good.  We need more leaders like him around the world.

 

 

What’s a Twentieth Century American to Do? – Part 2 – Are There Alternatives to the U.S.?

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In the first part of this series of posts I identified two separate questions associated with whether The United States was still the freest place in the world to live.  The first question was to answer whether the U.S. still the freest country to live in.  The second question is contingent on the first answer being yes.  If it is the freest place then the second question is how do you live in this new America in a way that maximizes your actual freedom here.  Because without a plan it is unlikely that it will feel very free.

This post is meant to answer that first question.  I looked around at some of the other places in the world and asked whether they were more or less free than the U.S.  And I think I’ll have to say that there are other places that would feel freer than here.  I’ll try to explain how I came up with this answer.

One of the first thing I decided was that if the standard of living of the country in question was close to first world conditions, then I would not fault the “freedom” quotient on that account.  For instance, I would rate most countries in Europe as an acceptable economy to compare to the U.S.  whereas some place like Haiti or North Korea would be unacceptable.  Looked at this way, places like Argentina and Chile and even Costa Rica might be acceptable places to live because the infrastructure exists to enjoy a decent life.

The next question is whether a country enjoys freedom of speech.  And it is understood that this is relative to what currently exists in the United States.  Though we technically have complete freedom of speech in the United States that is far from a true statement when you take into account the effects of woke practices on employment and the “hate speech” laws that although technically unconstitutional are unchallenged in multiple jurisdictions throughout Blue America.  Looked at from that point of view there are plenty of places that have the same or more freedom of speech as the United States.  Certainly, there are many places in Europe where the woke thought police are even more rabid than in this country but places like the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary, for instance, are not among them.  And these countries are not in the clutches of the LGBTQ mafia.  And they are all opposed to illegal immigration.  And finally, the Czech Republic even has gun rights that come close to what we have in the United States.

So, my cursory survey of other countries that might provide a freer environment than the U.S. seems to say that there may in fact be choices.  And it is understood that none of these places are as prosperous as the United States or possess all the advantages that this country possesses.  But what they do have is a less leftist outlook and a lack of woke public policy.  And since this is just a cursory examination, my next step is to look at these Eastern European countries to see whether the reality matches the appearance.

And if anyone out there has information on these three places and other candidate countries, please leave information in the comments.

Tucker Talks About Hungary’s Pro-Family Policies

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Victor Orban is Hungary’s Prime Minister.  He is a populist Hungarian nationalist and he’d rather help his people raise their own families than import third world immigrants to replace them.  Tucker went to Hungary to talk to Orban and the media is very angry about it.  Listen to Tucker’s description of the program.  Grants to families that have three or four children,  No income tax for life for large families.  Tax breaks to grandparents that help with the children.  Sounds good to me.  I hope some of our leaders like DeSantis and Abbott go to Hungary and learn a few things there.

I’ve been thinking about Hungary as a refuge of last resort but not being of Hungarian extraction they probably wouldn’t let me in.  So there is definitely one club I’d like to join that wouldn’t have me as a member.  Take that Groucho Marx.

22JUL2021 – OCF Update – The Curse is Lifted

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Three full days without a drop of rain.  Huzzah!  Today I saw a pale bedraggled brown snake look up at the sky and I thought I heard a hiss of relief.  He was sunning himself on one of the bricks I need as a support for a big old air-conditioner I use for bigger parties in the summer.  I regretfully moved him out of the way and he resentfully moved on.  Such are the small disappointments of life that we all must sustain even brown snakes.

Camera Girl is cooking meatballs, sausage and making a huge red sauce to use on the pasta dish for Saturday.  This is big stuff.  She’s got about thirty pounds of meat and the hissing of the cooking meat sounds like some industrial process whenever she takes one of the pans out of the oven.  Forces are being applied and profound sorcery is at work.  I’m giving her some space today since this part of the effort is crucial.  I have my plate full anyway.  Cleaning and installation of the A/C is something I like to do just right.  The unit is too heavy to be supported by the window and I never bought the chain hoist I wanted to get especially for this task.  So it’s a manual operation and my back isn’t as young as it once was so preparation and planning are crucial.  Luckily I’ve been studying the techniques that riggers use for installing 60,000 to 80,000 pound components.  It’s quite an art.  But I did notice that having a huge powerful young guy with a back of iron is one of the crucial components of a successful rigging operation.  Well I’m a guy so that’s one out of five.  And I am motivated so I predict success with only slight damage to life and limb.

I saw this morning that Tyler from Portly Politico was hoping that I had landed a personal interview with Hungarian prime minister Victor Orban.  Now I must admit that would be quite a coup for me.  But I’ll start smaller.  Maybe I can get an interview with Max Morton.  He’s a fellow who has contributed a number or articles at American Greatness and I find myself in wide agreement with his opinions.  But I haven’t managed to contact him so far.  We’ll see.

The Hungarians, Poles and a few of the other Eastern European countries have emerged as the most enlightened places for people interested in resisting the global Left.  Wouldn’t it be interesting if the former Soviet Bloc nations end up being the free world.  Life is strange that way.

Well, after I finish my chores I’ll look around and see what I want to write about.  The sun is shining and I’m feeling mighty optimistic so don’t be surprised if it’s something upbeat.  I just finished re-watching the final 2nd season episode of Star Trek, “Assignment: Earth” and will write the review today.  That’s the one with a very young Teri Garr.  Of course it has its Star Trek goofiness but it at least has a discernable story to tell so it will get a pretty good mark.

More to follow later.  Have a great day.

An Interview with Victor Orban

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Victor Orban is the Prime Minister of Hungary and a staunch Hungarian nationalist.  He is trying his best to push his country back in a direction that aligns with Family, God and Country.  And because of this he is despised by his EU neighbors.  The openly gay EU leaders have been triggered by his recent passing of a law that forbids proselytizing the LGBTQ lifestyles to minors.  But he is indifferent to their hysteria.  The fact that Hungary elected this man four times speaks volumes about their superiority to our own with respect to survival instinct

Recently he was interviewed by a religious publication from Croatia.  Here are some excepts.  Note:  This is a machine translation from a Croat publication and therefore not particularly polished.

 

How much does it cost you to swim against the dominant European political current?

Whoever swims with the multicultural fashion of this time loses everything that matters in life. True, everyone who goes against the current causes themselves a lot of problems. We pay a high price. Hungary pays a high price for not signing the Istanbul Convention, then refusing to support any Cold War policy; we pay a high price for not kicking the Russian president every day together with Westerners, but giving him the respect he deserves as president; we pay a high price for protecting the Christian model of the family; that LGBT madness has no place here; then we pay a high price for our position on migration and we pay a high price for not accepting the Brussels bureaucracy, but first and foremost as a counterweight to building Central European cooperation. So, we really pay a high price. But if we don’t pay that price, and if we don’t represent our interests, we may live more comfortably, but we will end up losing a lot more. We do better if we fight. I think Zrinski would understand that too.

 

How strong are the influences of pre-democratic structures in Hungary today?

In the Hungarian soul there is generally a desire for what is more important than personal life, which transcends it. Hungarians usually look for it in three directions: in the direction of family, nation and God. Usually, conversion also occurs when these three worlds are connected. It is a process that is progressing and I would not say that we are hindered by pre-democratic structures, no one else is responsible, it is our responsibility. Clearly, there are atheists in Hungary as well, there are opponents of the Church, there are liberals who do everything to stop the spread of Christian values. They have their own media, they are organized, they have strong civic associations. However, we have them on the conservative side as well – there are at least as many Christian media as there are anti-Christian ones, our civil associations are at least as strong as theirs, maybe even stronger; and we hold political positions because we have a Christian government. Therefore, the lack of spiritual renewal cannot be attributed to our opponents. The fault is not in others, but in ourselves.

 

You mention the soul of Europe, the spiritual struggle. Is the current political struggle actually the materialization of a spiritual struggle waged in the background?

Politics takes place on three levels simultaneously. The first level is practical: it deals with issues related to power, the acceptance of the budget, the appointment of persons, the maintenance of order. I would call the second level a vision, because all national communities must have a vision. What will happen to the Hungarians, not tomorrow morning, but in five, 10, 20 years? However, behind everything there is another broader dimension, the world of transcendence. We live in that dimension as well, and it is a part of life. In Hungarian political thought, this is called the problem of majority and truth. It could be said like this: if someone has a majority, but does not strive for the truth with that majority, what will the majority do for him? It’s just profanation. If, on the other hand, one advocates the truth but cannot move the majority, how will he act in the interest of that truth? It is a key challenge of Christian politics that emerges in democratic conditions. To simplify, we no longer have sacral kings anointed by God, so we must exist in a democracy, connecting the majority and the truth. It is not easy, but it is possible. Demo-Christian politics also has its mandate in relation to Christian culture. Christianity, first of all, created a free man. Therefore, we must first and foremost protect human dignity. Then, Christianity created a Christian family. We must protect the concept of the Christian family. Furthermore, Christianity has created nations in this part of the world. If we, the Hungarians, had not followed Christianity for a thousand years, we would have disappeared, so we must also protect the nation. But we must also protect religious communities and the Church. To summarize, our task is not to protect theological principles, it is the mission of the Church, but the great Christian achievements of civilization. And when I protect them, I fight not only with the sword, I use not only power, but also arguments.

Eastern Europe at the Forefront of Protecting the Family

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As the West goes from abomination to abomination these four former Eastern block captives point to a strategy for protecting their citizens and national identity from being obliterated by the nihilist globalist cancer all around them.  Well they certainly have caught my attention.  Hopefully there are Red State leaders who are receptive to similar strategies.  Joining an organization like this would make a lot of sense.  If not I may have to learn Hungarian.  Maybe Czech or Polish is easier.  Decisions, decisions.

“Pro-family coalition” launched by Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Czech Republic

Hungary Sounds Like a Country That Hasn’t Collapsed Into Insanity

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Hungary has changed its Constitution to protect a normal definition of marriage and parenthood.  And it protects the normal understanding of male and female identity from people trying to confuse children into ruining their lives.

https://amgreatness.com/2020/12/16/hungary-amends-constitution-to-recognize-parents-as-male-and-female/

If all else fails maybe I can get the Magyars to adopt me.