The Linear Canvas

I wrote this in October 1999. It was published in the USA Today newspaper. I just found it in a box the other day and I thought I’d share it. It was a comment on an article that had been published in the USA Today about how the East Germans were resentful that their lives had changed so dramatically since the fall of communism. The text was heavily edited by the editors at USA Today, but it is mostly as originally written

I wasn’t shocked to read in USA TODAY that some Germans in the eastern part of Germany aren’t liking capitalism as well they did communism ("Glow is wearing off in the east," News, Oct. 11). A certain level of corruption is not unique to either communism or capitalism. Under communism, everyone suspected the government was corrupt, but could do nothing about it. With capitalism, people know the government is corrupt, but unfortunately, they still cannot do anything about it. But of the two alternatives, I prefer at least knowing.

The presence of a communist party in Germany isn’t necessarily bad for democracy there. On the other hand, I don’t believe you have to have capitalism in order to have a democracy. But I’d say this probably doesn’t work in reverse.

The nostalgia that the East Germans feel for their former way of life has been influenced by what has happened to them since the fall of communism in eastern Europe ("Communist ‘nostalgia;" Letters, Thursday). Maybe there were some people who benefited from communism, but, in general, it seems to me that poor and middle-class people in eastern Germany and other parts of Eastern Europe have suffered enough, as political parties tore their countries to shreds.

I hope that democracy in those countries can help the people of eastern Germany and Eastern Europe overcome the tragedies that have befallen them through much of the 20th century, with or without the communists.