The Czech Republic democracy models

The Czechs are clever. In my brief time there I was introduced to intellectuals and dissidents as well as many thoughtful radical activists and well read anarchists. After an evening of story telling about “the good old days” in Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic, an anarchist friend of Jakub’s Ondre wanted to do an interview with me.  His was curios as to how i viewed the political changes i had seen in  the Czech Republic.

When I was there in the early and mid 1990s, there was a big split in the country about what democratic model the Czechs should follow: was it the “wild west” capitalist style of the United States or a social safety net system like the Scandinavian systems. Now 20 years later it is safe to say the Czechs have made their choice and the model they are choosing to mimic, is actually the Russian model.

the many tools of corrupt governments

the many tools of corrupt governments

In many European countries, including the Czech Republic your party needs to get a 5% of the vote in the general election before you can get a single seat in parliament.  For the last several elections this has meant that 5 parties have been in the Czech parliament.  The last general election 2 years ago required 3 of these parties to unit to form a coalition government with enough parliamentary seats to control it.  They called themselves “The anti-corruption coalition.”

corruption sistine hands with cash

Two years into this government and 15 out of 19 ministers have been forced to resign in scandals and disgrace in the last 2 years.  These are not silly Monica Lewinsky sex scandals, to loose you job in the increasingly corrupt Czech government you need to be caught red handed selling out your country in a fairly serious way.  I often criticize my own country, but this is far worse.  This is poorly organized crime disguised as government.