Social Contract

Lee and I spent last weekend in Vilnius, Lithuania, where we met fellow Fulbright professor Kathy Knapp of the University of Connecticut, who is teaching at Vilnius University. I would say that Lithuania is more prosperous than Latvia, though that may be comparing apples and oranges: Daugavpils is a provincial city and Vilnius is a capital. That said, we got into a discussion about the general prosperity of all three Baltic states, which is something that has seriously impressed Kathy. She has noted that when the Lithuanians set their mind to get something done, it gets done. And fast. And well.

I have to say that I would apply this as well to Latvia. Regardless of how the Baltics compare themselves to each other -- and given that they are all kind of siblings, making comparisons among themselves is expected and perhaps inevitable -- the place where they are 25 or so years after the fall of the Soviet Union is impressive to the point of astonishing. Grocery stores are thriving, and the shelves are stocked. Generally, infrastructure like roads and sidewalks are solid. Trains run on time, nearly to the minute. Businesses are (generally) doing well. It is fair to acknowledge that a place like Daugavpils still is dealing with abandoned factories, and there are a lot of them. But compared to the complete economic meltdown that followed the end of Soviet times, the economy here is generally stable and well balanced among manufacturing, food processing, and transportation repair. It's not as prosperous as it might like to be, but I bet that it's far more prosperous than it was.

I have commented on the entrepreneurship that seems to be taking place in the city very recently. Even more restaurants have opened since I last wrote that not more than two weeks ago, and the cultural events in the city continue unabated. Kathy noted the same thing where she is based and said something that I thought was very perceptive. She noted the social contract that is in place here: the idea that pensions matter for people's long-term well-being, that health care is universal and relatively inexpensive, and that there is a shared sense of a governmental obligation to take care of all its citizens. She pointed out, I think correctly, that people here afford to be entrepreneurial precisely because the social contract in place means that they don't lose everything by going out on a limb and taking on a financial risk. When you know that you will have health care regardless of how your business does when you start it, then you're much more willing to start it in the first place.

This strikes me as the most admirable thing about the Baltic states, and indeed Europe in general. The huge and furious debates in the United States at present, and especially under the administration of a Donald Trump, really centers on: what is government for? I find it ludicrous that so many governmental officials in the U.S. claim to hate government and want to do everything to get rid of it. If they hate it so much, why did they enter it in the first place, then? To destroy it? Here, government seems to exist to take care of needs that citizens may not be able to take care of themselves, health  and long-term stability among the top priorities. The social contract in place means that people can actually take risks and try something new. It's exactly the kind of spirit that the Baltics needed and still need following the breakup of the Soviet Union. I don't mean to suggest that the place is a paradise; the Soviet Union had a straitjacket social contract to the point that the State dictated virtually everything in a citizen's life, and there are vestiges of that attitude still in play here. I do mean to suggest, though, that starting from the premise that the role of the government is to help make people's lives better seems to work very well here. In contrast, for too many American citizens (read: Congresspeople), the role of government is to not exist at all, to the point where everybody is left to fend for themselves. It's a political and economic system that creates winners and losers. If you are one of the losers -- and, make no mistake, the system is specifically designed to create losers and keep them losing -- well, tough shit to you.

Deep down, the anti-government government officials know this. You can tell they do. For example, a political party that could create a health care plan that eliminates health care for 23 million Americans while preserving it for its own members is the height of cynicism. And equally cynical is the fact that the economic system that they tout so much -- with a deregulation of virtually everything -- created the system in which even more than 23 million Americans didn't have any insurance at all. Blaming poor people for being poor when you in fact systematically made them poor, and then punishing them for it, is despicable. 

Here, on the other hand, Latvians don't have nearly as much, but what they have is enough, and if they want more, the system encourages them to go out there and try something. My landlord Jans is a good example. He is now fixing up a few apartments so that he is a property manager of sorts, but he has also put together a cell phone business that sells parts and services, and this work takes him all over central Europe. My friends Allen and Natalija are another example; they are putting together a design firm business, settling in Daugavpils because it is cheap and central to many places. And my favorite little bakery just opened a restaurant across the street from its original location, and have done so on the cheap: the decor is cheery and simple, the food is basic but very good, and should it fail (but it won't -- they are very savvy), then their lives won't be over. They will just try something else.

This is one of the reasons that I feel so comfortable here in Latvia, and it sometimes surprises me to hear how much my students want to go the United States. Certainly I don't blame them. It is a fascinating and wonderful country, and it looms large in mythology. And when they express cynicism or despair that Latvians are not the leaders of Europe, or that Estonia is so much more technologically savvy, or Lithuania is so much more prosperous, I have to remind them that where they are is remarkable by any measure. And that though they would love to visit the U.S., they might in the long run not want to stay there. American excitement and innovation are great draws. So are Latvian comfort and security. I would choose the social contract here any day.