Hungary Through the Mirror

„Most European nations are wrestling with a similarly difficult list of constitutional questions. Can Europe solve its own budget and debt crisis? An Italian prime minister owned most of the country's television media. Should the EU or U.S. therefore have sanctioned Italy? Is it good democratic practice for the EU to replace the Greek and Italian governments without an election? In the U.K., social media users have been arrested for »hate speech.« But is anyone seriously worried about free speech in the U.K.?

The answer to such questions inevitably revolves around matters of degree and context. Established democracies have all gone through evolution. We may disagree over big issues, but we are all firmly rooted. That is just the kind of sympathetic understanding with which we should also look at Hungary. (...)

The West should respect Hungary, and equally, the Hungarian government should explain itself better, making clear in its own words how it is fighting for our common cause of freedom. After all, 19th-century Hungarian freedom-fighter Lajos Kossuth spent a lot of time doing just that.

Democracy can indeed go off the rails. Look at Russia, or Belarus, or even Ukraine. Hitler certainly unwound democracy in Germany. The cautionary tales are real.

But Hungary is nowhere near such an unraveling. I believe in Hungary and the Hungarian people. I know that Hungarians cherish freedom and democracy, and will fight to see them realized at home. I know that perfecting Hungary's democracy is the intention of the government, the opposition, and the West as well. Democracy is never perfect—that's why we have to keep working at it. Let's try to do it together.”