Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh, Ileana Writes is a freelance writer, author, radio commentator, and speaker. Her books, “Echoes of Communism", "Liberty on Life Support" and "U.N. Agenda 21: Environmental Piracy," "Communism 2.0: 25 Years Later" are available at Amazon in paperback and Kindle.
We found our way to Bran’s Castle via the city of Rasnov. We were surrounded by the majestic Carpathian Mountains, snow topped and covered with forests of blue spruce. The villages, with typical Transylvanian wood and rock homes of the western Romanian province, reminded me of Grandma’s cabin on the salt mountain in Wallachia, the southern province of Romania. Brown bears often visited our porch, looking for food. Wolves were howling at night, too close for comfort, their eyes shining in the dark.
The winding roads with hairpin curves offered breathtaking views of different peaks, some rocky with sheer cliffs, and devoid of any vegetation. Dizzying ravines reminded us of what could happen at nightfall if our driving faltered. Rivers were discharging angry waters at the bottom of straight drops.
Villagers never had an easy life in Eastern Europe. They had to labor for the communist party under ridiculous quotas every season. None of these apparatchiks knew how to run a farm yet they pretended to be experts at everything.
Field production often fell short of the unreasonable expectations and centralized five-year plans; bad weather, floods, unexpected freeze, drought, and insect invasions added misery to the villagers’ tiny share of the crops after CAPs (Agricultural Cooperatives of Production) got their share. It was not enough to feed a family.
As my husband drove on Republic Boulevard, I was scanning the landscape for sights that looked familiar. After 25 years, everything looked so transformed yet not much different from my childhood years. Newer construction and overgrown trees made everything impossible to recognize, so I thought.
As we neared our block A6, I spotted the small shopping complex where we bought our bread, milk, oil, and the occasional sweet treats. Mom sent me many afternoons to buy fresh bread, knowing that I would come back with half of the crust eaten as if some hungry rodent had gnawed the best part. Often I would lose the change which I held tightly in my fist – I was six years old.
On a warm sunny day, September 7, 2011, cousin Ana drove us to the village of Popesti where my father was buried 22 years ago. I waited for this moment with bated breath to say hello and good-bye to my dad and place a wreath on his tomb.
We drove on the newly asphalted road up the beautiful hills covered with grape vines, the black grapes ripening in the fall sun. I recognized the river where we used to bathe as children, impervious to the dangers of the swift waters. None of us knew how to swim.
As Americans are trying to make sense of and understand the multi-faceted United Nations Agenda 21, new information emerges daily. Signed by George Bush, and implemented through non-governmental organizations "sub-rosa" work since 1992, UN Agenda 21 grows at the local, state, and federal levels with new rules, regulations, executive orders, private-public partnerships, and declarations, accelerating the United States' inclusion into one world government.
Transitioning from a communist/socialist controlled economy to a mixture of capitalism and European socialism was not painless for the former communist country of Romania. After the bloody revolution of December 1989, the country embarked on a series of difficult economic changes and adaptations that culminated in its admission into the European Union on January 1, 2007.
Jumping from the communist party’s inadequate and random five-year economic plans that bore no resemblance to the needs and wants of society to a market system based on supply and demand was quite difficult. Between 1948 and 1989, Romania had a state-controlled economy built around heavy industry.
As we made our way through the southeastern and central Romania, the common theme of high- rise tenements with shops on the first floor emerged. Some were left from Ceausescu’s communist era; some were built after the 1989 revolution with specifications and money from EU. I could tell the difference between Ceausescu's tenements and the newer ones; the older tenements were not as tall and were more dilapidated. Many people purchased these tiny apartments and remodeled them on the inside, while waiting for non-existent government help to fix the exterior, just like the communist nanny state used to do. The newer tenements were much taller and in better exterior condition.
You are Americans by the grace of God. You were lucky to be born in the land of the free and the brave. Many foreigners risk their lives and fortunes to come here, while leaving behind everything they love and hold dear in order to be free. I am such a foreigner, I came from communist Romania in 1978.
I am a proud American by choice. Thirty-three years ago, my father gave up his only child when he signed the legal permission for my journey to America, knowing that he may never see me again. He understood very well that I wanted to be free and to develop my fullest potential without crushing government control. I wanted the opportunity to pursue my dreams, to break away from the poverty of the proletariat. We all knew that a better life and future waited in America if I only worked hard. I could not progress and maintain a conscience under the oppression of a communist dictatorship.
America was founded on the idea that private property is sacred. Americans cannot conceive their country without the right to own property. As they go about their daily lives, the United Nations Agenda 21 is methodically chipping away at our country's solid foundation.
Under the guise of protecting the environment, water conservation, resources, reducing carbon footprint, reducing the use of electricity, smart grid, smart meters, cutting down the use of fossil fuels, separating people from their cars in favor of mass transit, biking and walking within five minutes of residence, returning land to wilderness by moving large rural and urban populations into high rise tenements in green zones, and social justice, the UN is taking over our lives.