In my fourth dialogue, I talk to Ștefan Mironescu about Câlin Georgescu. Ștefan studied cinema at the National University of Theatre and Film in Bucharest and works as a video producer. He’s also a member of the Party of Young People in Romania, one of the main parties behind Câlin Georgescu. Ștefan thinks Western values such as secularism, LGBT+ rights, and support for vaccine compulsion are harming Romania, and that the country needs a strong leader to preserve Romanian sovereignty and national values such as Christianity, traditional families, and the freedom to not vaccinate. Although I agree that there are legitimate reasons to be frustrated with the liberal world order, I think populists politicians are capitalizing on this frustration to promote an ideology that will ultimately harm Romania even more. Problems such as rising social inequality and the cost-of-living crisis are not going to be solved by scapegoating minorities, but by resisting culture wars and focusing on evidence-based policy. What do you think? Should Romania remain aligned with the EU and try to solve its problems within this paradigm? Or does it need a strong leader to fix the problems that liberal democracy has failed to address?

Glossary:

- PSD ("pe se de"): Partidul Social Democrat (Social Democratic Party)

- USR ("uh se re"): Uniunea Salvați România (Save Romania Union)

- AUR: Alianța pentru Unirea Românilor (Alliance for the Union of Romanians)

- SENS: Sănătate, Educație, Natură, Sustenabilitate (Health Education Nature Sustainability Party)

Intro

00:00 Teaser

00:42 The importance of dialogue

Discussion

08:33 Introducing Ștefan Mironescu

17:22 Reasons for opposing/supporting Georgescu

21:16 The legionary movement

23:43 Ciolacu (PSD) vs. Lasconi (USR)

25:03 Christian values and the state

26:05 Most pressing problems in Romania

32:12 Is religion at risk?

41:24 What specific AUR policy proposals do you support?

42:05 Same-sex marriage vs. civil partnership

42:47 S3x education

45:55 Does voting conservative increase well-being for Romanians?

50:26 Shouldn't we trust science?

54:23 If fighting poverty is a priority, shouldn't we support parties like SENS?

57:17 How confident are you that Georgescu would be good for Romania?

58:19 Are you concerned about Russia's influence on Romania?

01:03:38 What would change your mind?

01:04:20 What does it mean to be leftist?

01:05:25 Polarizing language vs. real fascism

01:07:37 Biden, Trump & American Democracy

01:12:56 Aggressive/tribal leftists

01:13:15 Being controlled, billionaires, and trans rights

01:20:05 What would change your mind about the "left"?

01:23:21 What about the "right"? Abortion rights?

01:25:17 What would change my mind

01:30:47 What is the social cost of changing our minds?

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