From time immemorial, Hungary has been plagued by quintessentially feudal nepotistic corruption coupled with institutionalized inhumanity. This deeply entrenched national corruption as well as its wicked inhumanity have culminated in lawless immorality that has perverted the political, social, economic and cultural realms at every level of public and personal lives. In politics, corruption and immorality have been compounded by a uniquely Magyar (Hungarian) ethnic schizophrenia that, in turn, has led to “doublethink” and “doubletalk.” The over four decades of Soviet military occupation and dictatorial Communist rule between 1948 and 1990, have only exacerbated the wholesale corruption, egotistical inhumanity and ruthless immorality of the nation. When independence came in 1990, Hungarians as a whole were woefully unprepared to create a real representative democracy and a free market economy. In spite of the cautious westernization permitted under Janos Kadar, the eponymous head of Communist Hungary, the country still differed radically in its political, economic and financial institutions from the West and have been separated from the European Union by its status as an occupied state. Thus, in their mentality Hungarians have remained the children of the past Communist dictatorship.
Political power, especially in a dictatorship, is like honey. It attracts the most controlling and ruthless dimwits who remain rooted in the past, while falsely pretending to fully embrace the new ideas dictated by the overwhelmingly external circumstances. These newly emerging young Communists coalesced around Istvan Stumpf, the son in law of the then Interior Minister Istvan Horvath in the late 1980s. Among them were Viktor Orban and almost all of his closest associates in the current Hungarian government. Today, after having exercised a one-party dictatorship for twelve years, they have become exactly as authoritarian as their Communist parents and grandparents were. History teaches that when political and economic corruption becomes a way of life, the entire country suffers irreparable catastrophe. Drunk with absolute power, Viktor Orban’s FIDESZ party passed a new constitution on April 18, 2011. With this unilateral act, the restoration of the one-party dictatorship has commenced. After ten self-serving amendments to this constitution, Viktor Orban has cemented the death of democracy, the rule of law, and the inability of the opposition to win elections by adhering to the hypocritical political processes of the ruling party.
The well-documented fact that Viktor Orban’s and his crime syndicate’s greed knows no limits has been demonstrated by the many government projects that are nothing but corrupt schemes to enrich himself, his extended family and a very small circle of boyhood friends, collectively referred to by the folkish black humor “the Knights of the System of National Cooperation.” Among the most glaringly corrupt government projects are the Budapest-Belgrade railway line, the upgrading and the expansion of Hungary’s only nuclear power plant in Paks, the by now infamous Microsoft scandal, the planned construction of the campus for the Chinese Fudan University, the reorganization of public universities into private foundations, which are controlled by Viktor Orban’s strohmen, the establishment of unaccountable private foundations, again exclusively ran by his minions, and the utterly corrupt resettlement bonds, which are in reality government securities. The latter is codified by Law CCXX of 2012, as an amendment to the Law II of 2007, on the Entry and Stay of Citizens of Third States, mandates that permanent residency can be awarded to citizens of third countries whose entry and stay in Hungary is justified by his or her investments on the basis of national economic interests. While denying entry to asylum seekers from all over the world, an assortment of questionable characters from mostly Russia and China can buy their ways into the European Union by “legally” bribing Viktor Orban and his government. Coupled with a tangled web of innumerable offshore companies, these so-called national security projects are presenting and will continue to pose enduring existential threats to the security of NATO as well as the European Union, and the financial and economic stability of the continent. It goes without saying that Brussels has tried to investigate and punish this government sanctioned corruption – thus far with very limited success.
Clearly, as Moses advised his people in Deuteronomy 16:19, not to succumb to bribery, because doing so “blind the vision of the wise.” And herein is the supreme tragedy of today’s Hungary. The deadly virus of corruption has inflicted even those who supposedly have been charged with fighting theft, embezzlement, bribery, racketeering and money laundering. Corresponding to this abominable state of affairs, the Hungarian government, led by Viktor Orban, will continue to be unable to adapt itself to the core values and principles of the West. Absolute powers always dehumanize those who exercise them. Vested with tremendous political powers, Viktor Orban is convinced that he rules over instead of serving the Hungarian people. For this reason alone, he and his pitiable subjects will surely face the deadly political and economic consequences of their all pervasive national irresponsibility.