Despite China, ’89 was a year for democracy

By William Mckenzie

We dialed the clock back last week to June 4, 1989, the day Chinese dissidents tried to stand their government on its ear. About the same time as those democratic protests, a half a world away democracy was starting to ripple across Eastern Europe. In a few short months, the Iron Curtain would crumble.

What a tremendous year 1989 was for democracy.

Not that the movements turned out perfectly. They didn’t in China, and some parts of the old Eastern bloc remain problems. Still, powerful currents were unleashed across the globe that made 1989 arguably the most important year for democracy in the last century.

The democratic eruptions that began in Poland and Hungary had been simmering, going back to Solidarity’s emergence as a counter to communism in Poland. Those forces finally caused Europe to erupt.

Picking up the papers every day was an adventure in itself. What country would capture the headlines next? Romania? Czechoslovakia? Tiny Albania?

I was in Europe at that summer’s end, attending a seminar involving moderate political types from the United States and United Kingdom. We met at the U.S. Embassy in London on Sept. 1, 1989 — 50 years to the day after Hitler rolled across Poland.

We naturally looked back toward that dark time, but we could feel Europe quaking as it hadn’t since World War II. The democratic risings were palpable, although no one could know then that the Berlin Wall would fall within weeks.

Polish leaders

Later, some of us met with several Polish leaders. Our delegation included a few members of Congress, and the Polish politicians wanted to communicate their views.

On a quiet fall afternoon, we sat in a conference room as the Polish democrats spelled out their country’s needs. I expected them to say they needed another Marshall Plan, but they didn’t. In fact, they thought that would have been disastrous. Massive amounts of American aid only would prop up failing governments and state-run industries, they said.

While some money would help, what they really wanted was our expertise in creating markets. They had little knowledge of running an economy when the government didn’t call all the shots, and they had seen enough of that kind of waste, corruption and inefficiency.

The moment sticks in my mind because there was such a thirst for political and economic freedom.

There are lessons for the Obama administration from that time.

First, this may be an age of government, but government can only do so much. It may be that the only rational course is for Washington to bail out GM, the banks and the housing industry. Still, the administration needs to be careful; government can become a burden, too.

In Eastern Europe, it became an evil force. Ours won’t become that, but it can become a drag on the economy. The New York Times reported last week that rising interest rates on the growing federal debt could limit the economy’s rebound.

Swirling change

Second, don’t overreact in a time of swirling change. Given his unflappability, I worry less about this. Obama appears to be as cool a leader as we’ve had. Still, it’s worth him remembering how the Bush 41 administration calmly handled the changes of 1989.

The steadiness of George H.W. Bush and his secretary of state, James A. Baker III, allowed democracy to unfold in Eastern Europe without bringing the Soviet Union back into the game. Bush 41 was criticized for not going for the photo-op and dancing on the Berlin Wall, but he faded the heat and decided not to rub it in Mikhail Gorbachev’s face.

There’s a reason we look back. Big events, like those of 1989, often reshape our world. And we look back to learn the right lessons. Or at least we hope we do.

X William McKenzie is an editorial columnist for The Dallas Morning News. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.